


Danganronpa: Dead in the Water

by shsl_cryptid



Series: shsl-cryptid's Danganronpa killing games [1]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-03-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:28:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 31
Words: 93,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22076977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shsl_cryptid/pseuds/shsl_cryptid
Summary: Seiki Hoshino, the Ultimate Detective, has lost the past five years of her memory and has found herself trapped on a cruise ship with 15 other Ultimate students and a robotic bear called Monokuma telling them to kill each other to get out. No one else knows how they got there, and some people are pretty desperate to get home…
Series: shsl-cryptid's Danganronpa killing games [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1629187
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	1. Introduction

I’m… awake. Where am I?

Before opening my eyes, I observe what I can of the situation. My head hurts. My body aches a little. I’m in… a chair? I can hear several voices. Maybe… ten or so. They sound… confused. Maybe just as confused as I am…

I open my eyes and look around. I count… fifteen people, sixteen including myself. They all look to be around my age. We’re in a small theatre. About half are sitting down, and the rest are standing at the front talking to each other. It seems that I’m the last to wake up. I don’t recognize any of the faces, and I can’t recall how I got here… or where I was before this.

What’s… going on? I can’t remember…

My name is Seiki Hoshino. I’m an Ultimate student… the Ultimate Detective. I can recall… my childhood. I have a lot of memories from that, but it seems to cut off right around the age of eleven. I know I’m good at detective work, but I can’t remember any examples of that…

“Hey, are you alright? You’re the last to wake up.” A pink haired boy stands in front of me, reaching out a hand to help me up.

“I’m alright, I suppose… my head kinda hurts. Who are you?”

“My name is Hirai Ichizo. I’m the Ultimate Blogger! Looks like we’re all Ultimate students. What’s your talent? Oh, and your name, too?”

“I’m Seiki Hoshino, the Ultimate Detective,” I take his hand and reply as he pulls me up to a standing position.

“Nice to meet you Seiki,” he shakes my hand before letting it go. “C’mon, I’ll introduce you to the others and then maybe you can use your detective talent to help us figure out what’s going on here.” He smiles and leads me towards the group at the front of the room.

“New person! New person! We have another awake person!” A teal haired girl shouts as I approach the small crowd.

“Hey! We doing introductions again for the new girl or what?” An athletic-looking girl crosses her arms and gives a friendly smile.

“That’s everyone now, yes? If I counted correctly, there are sixteen people here, and you’re the last to wake up,” a boy with a blue scarf says.

“Yeah, everyone’s up now. I’ve already introduced myself, so why don’t we go around and re-do introductions for Seiki here?” Hirai seems to naturally lead the conversation.

“Seiki? A beautiful name for a beautiful girl.” A blond boy approaches me. “My name is Isao Sonozaki, I’m the Ultimate Magician.” He reaches behind my head and seems to grab something from under my hat, before holding a rose out to me. “And what might your talent be?”

“I’m… the Ultimate Detective, Seiki Hoshino.” I slightly hesitantly accept the rose.

The athletic-looking girl from earlier pulls Isao back by the shoulder and steps forward to grab my free hand and shake it. “The name’s Mizuki Nakahara, Ultimate Volleyball Player! Nice to meetcha, Seiki!”

“I’m Ayao!! Ayao Nishida!! I like math!!” The teal haired girl pops up from behind Mizuki’s shoulder. “Ah, right, Ultimate Mathematician! Thos’re the words I’m supposed to use!” I smile at the two before releasing Mizuki’s hand and turning to meet someone else.

“Hey,” the boy with the blue scarf greets me. “I’m Shōhei Asano, Ultimate Dancer.”

“The name’s Fumie,” says a small girl with a cutesy idol-esque purple and blonde hairstyle. “Fumie Fukuma. No, not ‘Yumie,’ I don’t care how many magazines you’ve seen me in that call me that, my fuckin’ manager never bothered to remember my name, called the band B.A.B.Y. as an acronym despite none of our names starting with Y-- y’know what, fuck it! I don’t need to worry about that here, my manager is GOOONE! Hell fucking yeah!!” She seems excited about the lack of her manager in the room.

“Hiiiiii!!” Another rather short person, this one with a patch over one eye, approaches me. “I’m Rio Uchiyama!! I’m the Ultimate Astronomer!! I like space!!” They smile brightly at me.

“Nice to meet you all.” I give a small smile to everyone in the group. “So… does anyone here know what’s going on? I can’t remember a thing…” I’m wondering whether everyone else is experiencing the same memory loss that I am.

“No, last thing I remember is going to sleep at home and then waking up in here with everyone else. Seems like that’s the same for most of us,” Hirai explains.

“We’ve been kidnaaaaapped!!!” Ayao whines, nearly brought to tears.

“Kidnapped? More like fuckin’ saved! I don’t care where we are, no manager means happy Fumie.”

“Now now, if we’ve been brought here against our will, there has to be a reason behind it. Miss Detective, maybe you can look around the room for clues? The doors are locked shut, we’ve tried already, so there’s no getting out that way,” Shōhei adds.

Just as I’m about to agree and start inspecting the room, a projection screen rolls down over the stage. The projector in the back of the theatre flicks on, and an image of a strange bear fades into view. It begins moving and talking, as though it were alive.

_“Hi everyone! Welcome to your school field trip! Your Hope’s Peak class is here on the S.S. Enoshima for a delightful cruise! I am your headmaster, Monokuma! No, I’m not a teddy bear, don’t even bother asking. Oh, and if you have any questions, save ‘em for later, this is a pre-recorded video. Anyways! On this cruise ship, you have access to six decks full of relaxation and fun activities! On the first deck, there’s a cabin set up for each of you to get some rest! The second deck has a hangout space as well as a bar, kitchen, dining area, and this theatre you’re in right now! Third deck has rooms dedicated to each of your wonderful talents! They’re all locked for now, but you’ll start getting keys soon. Fourth deck has a pool, an indoor garden, gym, a library, and the nurse’s office! Fifth deck has an ice cream shop, arcade, a games room, cafe, a music room, and a weapons room! And the sixth deck? Oh, that’s where all the fun happens! But I won’t let you down there just yet! First, I need to tell you about your graduation requirements! Just because we’re on a cruise doesn’t mean you can slack off on your studies! Here it’s a little different than what you’re used to. To graduate, which is the only way you can leave this boat... you need to kill someone and get away with it! I’ll explain more about that when we get to it. For now, enjoy your time on the ship! The elevator only goes between the first and second decks at the moment, I’ll have that fixed by tomorrow. Upupupu, have a great cruise, and happy killing!”_

We all stare blankly at the screen as the video plays. Some of the people around me are saying things as I try to process what the bear just said.

“Wh… what the fuck? Whoever put us here has some sick sense of humour…” Fumie crosses her arms.

“I refuse to believe such nonsense,” A girl with a pastel blue braid says as she stands from her seat. “Now, if you’ll excuse me.” She walks to the doors and they swing open when she pushes them, now clearly unlocked.

“Wait-- and, she’s gone…” Hirai sighs. “I think we should try to stick together and figure out just what’s going on here. If that bear was telling the truth-”

“There’s no way it was telling the truth,” Mizuki interrupts. “That kind of thing only happens in fiction, this is some kind of prank, I know it! Let’s look around more now that we can get out of this theatre.”

“You’re right… that’s a good idea. Seiki, would you like to join us?” Hirai turns back to face me.

“Um… I think I’d like to meet everyone else in this room. I wanna see if we all have anything in common besides being Ultimate students,” I explain as I set Isao’s rose down on the edge of the stage.

“Oh, good thinking! We’ll wait for you then.” Hirai leans against the edge of the stage to wait.

“I don’t wanna wait! I can meet everyone else later! Ayao, Fumie, Isao, Shōhei, Rio, let’s look around together and meet up again later!” Mizuki starts heading towards the door, assuming those she listed will follow her. Luckily she was correct in that assumption, and the group makes their way out behind her.

I turn towards the seats and look at the people I haven’t met yet. I start by approaching a tall boy with a long grey ponytail, sitting next to an emo-looking boy with red hair.

“Hello. I’m Seiki Hoshino, Ultimate Detective. I just… want to meet everyone here, if possible.”

“Nice to meet you, Seiki! I’m Takeshi Ueda, Ultimate Paparazzi,” The grey haired boy speaks. “This is my good friend Matt Williams, he’s the Ultimate Guitarist. You gotta hear him play sometime, he’s really good!” Matt waves a little as Takeshi introduces him.

“Pleasure to meet you both. I’ll… see you around, then.” I give them a little wave as I move on down the row of seats to a girl with wavy black hair and purple highlights.

“Hello, I’m Seiki Hoshino, the Ultimate Detective. What’s your name?”

“Oh, me? Um… I’m Hitomi Takara, the Ultimate.. Writer… Sorry, I just... This whole situation is kinda strange. You think that bear was telling the truth?”

“I really don’t know. I guess we’ll find out soon enough… we can only hope this is some weird prank.” I sigh and look around. “Well, I’m gonna finish up meeting everyone in the room. See you around.”

I walk down the aisle to another row where a blonde girl dressed in pink sits alone. “Hi, I’m Seiki Hoshino. I’m the Ultimate Detective. What’s your name?”

“My… name? Why… do you want to know that? I don’t know you.” The girl looks at me with genuine confusion.

“Um… you kind of know me now, right? I just introduced myself.” Does she… not want to meet me?

“My name is Chiyumi Sakuma,” She answers plainly.

“And… your talent?” Man, this conversation is something.

“Talent? I am talented! I bake and decorate pastries. I’m a pastry chef.” She smiles politely for a moment before her expression changes to one of deep thought. “I’m not used to meeting new people. Could you tell me when I can go home?”

“Oh, I’m sorry… I don’t know the answer to that. Hopefully we can find out soon. I suppose I’ll see you around, then.”

“Goodbye!” She waves as I move on down the row. I approach a person with brown hair and a small frame.

“Hello, I’m Seiki Hoshino. Ultimate Detective. And you?”

The person begins to move their hands in front of them. I follow their movements with my eyes, confused. After a moment, they pull out a small notebook with a pencil and write down a message.

‘I was asking if you knew sign language, but based on your reaction I assume you don’t. My name is Ko Matsumoto, I’m the Ultimate Archer. I was born mute.’

“Oh! Nice to meet you, Ko.” They smile at me and reach out their hand to shake mine.

“I’ll see you around, then.” I smile at them. They nod in response and walk to the front of the room where Hirai is waiting, presumably to introduce themselves to him. I continue on down the row and approach a boy with fluffy blue hair and red eyes.

“Hi, my name is Seiki Hoshino. I’m the Ultimate Detective. What’s your name?”

“Kan… Kan Tsukiyomi…” He looks afraid.

“Nice to meet you, Kan. Are you an ultimate student as well?” I try to put on a friendly face to comfort him.

“Kan… Kan is the Ultimate Dog Groomer! Kan really likes dogs!” He seems a little happier mentioning his talent.

“Oh, that sounds fun! I’m gonna finish meeting everyone here now, maybe you can tell me more about that later.”

He nods in response as I walk over to the back row of seats where a boy with orange hair and a green hoodie sits alone.

“Hello, I’m Seiki Hoshino. I’m the Ultimate Detective.”

“A detective… sounds like a good talent for a scenario like this,” the boy smirks.

“What’s your name and talent?” I decide to ignore his remark.

“Interrogating me already? What, am I suspicious?” He’s having too much fun with this. I scowl at him and sigh. He laughs a little before complying.

“Rei Ikemoto. Ultimate Game Designer.” He doesn’t waste a second before standing up and leaving the room. I just stand there and watch him go. I don’t think I like this guy very much…

After that exchange, I head back to the front where Hirai stood waiting, Ko with him now as well.

“Shall we?” I gesture towards the door.

Hirai turns to face the rest of the seated people. “We’re gonna start looking around now, any of you want to join?”

Everyone seated in the theatre stands up and joins us in a second search group. Hirai leads us out the door and into the main area of the second deck. There are large windows displaying the ocean outside, but no doors to get onto the outside area of the deck.

“No way out, huh… at least there’s a nice view,” Takeshi observes. Chiyumi takes a seat on one of the couches. Kan sits next to her, grabbing a pillow and hugging it tight.

I take a look around the room. There’s not much more than couches and coffee tables, it’s just a spot to sit down and enjoy the view. Nothing more, nothing less.

“Should we continue on to the next room?” Hirai suggests.

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.” Hirai, Takeshi, Matt, Ko, and Hitomi start heading towards the dining hall. I approach the couch that Chiyumi and Kan are sitting on.

“Are you two coming with us?”

“I found a comfortable seat. I think I will stay here for now,” Chiyumi smiles at me.

“Okay. What about you, Kan?”

“Kan… Kan will stay here with Chiyumi! Kan doesn’t like this place… Chiyumi seems nice!”

“Alright. I’ll see you both later,” I reply before catching up with the others in the dining hall.

The room is large, a long wooden table with eight chairs on either side placed in the center. There’s an extravagant window at one end of the room, letting in natural light. There’s a fancy chandelier on the ceiling, currently switched off. The side opposite to the window has an open doorway to the bar, and the back wall has a closed door labelled “Kitchen.”

“This place is kinda nice,” Hirai comments as he walks around the table.

“No land in sight,” Hitomi says, standing by the window with Ko. The two begin communicating in sign language. Maybe Hitomi can help Ko communicate by being an interpreter for them.

“Food…” Matt speaks for the first time I’ve heard since we got here. He’s heading for the kitchen and Takeshi’s following. The rest of us follow behind them as well, just to see all the rooms on this deck.

It’s a fairly large kitchen, multiple fridges and cupboards packed full of food. Looks like enough to last weeks, a mix of easy to prepare meals and ingredients for more complex dishes. The only drinks here seem to be water and milk.

“I guess the bar probably has the rest of the drinks,” I comment. Ko grabs themselves a glass of water, and Matt has started working on a sandwich.

I give one last glance around the room before heading out with Hirai. It seems that Hitomi and Ko follow us, but Matt and Takeshi stay behind for now. We head through another door in the kitchen to the bar.

The bar is the smallest room we’ve seen thus far, containing a counter with stools and a fridge full of various drinks in the back. Everything’s non-alcoholic, which was to be expected considering the fact that this is supposedly a high school field trip.

“Looks like that’s everything on this deck. Should we head up the elevator and see what our cabins are like?” I suggest, recalling that bear’s description of the ship.

“Sure, that’s about all we can do at this point. Let’s get going.” Hirai leads us out of the bar and towards the elevator at the end of the general hangout area. The four of us head up together.

In the hallway we’re greeted by Mizuki and the group she led, inspecting the doors down each side of the hall.

“Heya! You guys see everything downstairs yet? This place is kinda cool, huh?” Mizuki beams at us, her optimistic personality making the best of this strange and confusing situation.

“Yeah, we just finished looking around,” Hirai responds. “We wanted to see what the cabins were like, so we came up here.” He walks down the hall and finds his room pretty quickly, opening the door and peeking inside.

I look around the hallway to observe everything here. There are less windows due to the cabins being on the outer edge of the ship, and there’s a bathroom down at the end of the hall. I walk into the bathroom and observe the layout. One side has several shower stalls, the opposite containing several toilet stalls. There’s a row of sinks across the back of the room. Nothing too special to note, so I head back out into the hallway.

“I don’t like all these cameras around here, makes me feel like we’re being watched all the time,” Fumie says, walking backwards with her arms crossed while looking up at a camera in the corner of the hallway.

“I wonder who’s watching,” I reply.

“Probably whoever brought us here. We were all kidnapped, right? Monokuma said this was a field trip, but none of us remember coming here of our own will,” Hirai says.

“Yeah. I just hope we’ll get some answers soon.” I sigh as I walk down the row of doors, eventually finding one with my name on it. I slowly push the door open and look inside.

It’s a fairly small room with tan coloured walls. There’s a bed with brown blankets off to one side, a white nightstand next to it. On top of the nightstand, there’s a small tablet. On the opposite side of the room, there’s a white dresser. I look inside to find numerous copies of my current outfit. One drawer has a couple copies of the same set of pajamas, as well as a couple copies of a simple swimsuit.

I sit on the bed and pick up the tablet, finding that it’s labelled “Monopad” and has that bear’s face on the back. I power it on to which it greets me by name. There’s not much on it besides a map of the ship, excluding the sixth deck, and a replay of the intro video from earlier. I set down the tablet and look around the room.

There’s not much else to observe besides a camera like there was in every room, and a small porthole-style window on the wall opposite to the door. I stand back up to peek outside, seeing the sun begin to set over the endless ocean. I watch the sunset as I hear voices out in the hall, people looking around and finding their rooms. I didn’t realize it was this late already, but I’m not all that hungry, so I decide to eat in the morning.

Once it’s mostly dark outside, an announcement plays over the speakers. It’s the same voice as that bear from the video.

_“It is now 10pm. As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then... Sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite...”_

That late already… I grab a set of pajamas from the dresser and change into them as out of view of the camera as I can get. Maybe tomorrow will bring some answers to why we’ve all been brought here, an explanation of that weird bear video, anything. I turn off the lights in my cabin, slip under the covers on the bed, and slowly drift off to sleep.


	2. Chapter 1: Day 1

_"Good morning, everyone! It is now 7am and nighttime is officially over! Time to rise and shine! Get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day! Oh, and the elevator is fixed! You can get down to every deck besides the sixth deck now. The first three talent room keys can be found on the table in the dining hall! Each time someone dies, you’ll get another key!"_

I’m woken up by the morning announcement. That bear’s voice is not the first thing I want to hear in the morning… I lie in bed for a moment, processing the fact that yesterday was indeed not a dream, before getting up, getting dressed, and leaving the room.

“Ah, good morning… Seiki, right?” Takeshi greets me in the hallway. I nod.

“Good morning, Takeshi.” We both get on the elevator to head down. After not having anything to eat yesterday, I’m starving. Just before the elevator closes, Chiyumi enters without saying anything. The three of us head down to the second deck.

Chiyumi walks to the couch she sat on the previous day and takes a seat in the exact same spot, looking out the window. I guess she likes that spot. I walk past and go through the dining hall to get to the kitchen, noticing the keys on the table. Takeshi heads straight for them.

“Bow and arrow… a cupcake… and a camera. I’m guessing these symbols represent the talent rooms they unlock, so this one’s probably mine,” Takeshi says as he picks up the key with a camera symbol.

“Cupcake is probably pastry chef, so that’s Chiyumi’s. Then bow and arrow would be archer, for Ko.” I take a look at the small silver keys. Would mine be a magnifying glass or something similar? If what the bear said about getting more keys each time someone dies is true, then I hope I never have to find that out.

“I’m… gonna go look at my talent room. I’ll see you later.” Takeshi leaves the dining hall before I have a chance to respond, so I head into the kitchen and start preparing myself a bowl of cereal.

Just as I’m about to head back out into the dining hall, Ayao and Rio walk into the kitchen.

“Seiki!! Good morning!!” They both shout at once. They’re eerily in sync.

“Good morning.” I smile at the two as I walk past them out the kitchen door. I take a seat at the table and eat in silence for a moment.

The room is peaceful and quiet. The sun shines bright outside, the water reflecting its light. This peace doesn’t last long, however. Just as I’m finishing up my cereal, the duo I greeted in the kitchen earlier come stumbling out the door. Ayao’s holding a plate with a large stack of poptarts arranged in a tower shape on it while Rio holds the door open for her.

“Look, Seiki! It’s the Leaning Tower of Poptart! Isn’t it- AHH!!” As she walks towards me to show me the tower, the entire thing falls over. Poptarts are scattered everywhere, on the table and the floor, while only one from the base of the tower remains on the plate.

“The poptarts!!” Rio exclaims as they rush over, scooping up all the ones that fell on the floor.

“Maybe it was leaning a little too much!” Ayao giggles and scratches the back of her head. She ignores the wasted poptarts and takes a seat next to me, beginning to eat the last safe poptart.

“What… happened?” A confused Shōhei enters the room, Hirai and Fumie following behind.

“Poptart…” Rio says with a distressed tone as they continue to scoop the mess on the floor into a pile.

“Here, I’ll help.” Shōhei approaches Rio and helps them clean up the poptarts.

One by one, nearly everyone I met yesterday comes into the dining hall, making their way through the kitchen to grab some food. Ko happily picks up their talent room key and heads out after eating, presumably to check it out. Takeshi ends up back in here around the time Matt shows up, and they eat together.

Eventually, I bring my bowl back to the kitchen and leave the dining area. I notice Chiyumi still sitting in the general hangout area.

“Hey, Chiyumi. I think your talent room key is on the table in the dining hall. You’re the Ultimate Pastry Chef, right? There’s one with a cupcake symbol.”

“Oh! ...Talent room?” She looks at me curiously.

“Yeah. I’m not sure what’s in them, but on the deck below this one there’s rooms for each of our talents. I assume yours would have some kind of kitchen setup for baking.”

“That sounds nice. I think I will go look at it. The key is in the dining hall?”

I nod in response and she gets up and heads for the dining hall. I take a look at the map on my Monopad as I walk towards the elevator. I decide to see the talent rooms for myself and head down to the third deck.

The hallway looks similar to the first deck, but instead of cabins with each of our names on them, the doors each have a symbol on them. I recognize the camera, cupcake, and bow and arrow symbols from their matching keys. All the doors are shut, except the one with the bow and arrow symbol, which is slightly open. I walk over to peek inside, and see Ko aiming an arrow at a target on the opposite side of the room. Hitomi and Fumie are sitting off to the side and watching them.

“Seiki, hey! Have you seen Ko’s aim? They’re fuckin’ amazing at this!” Fumie waves me inside. Ko lowers their bow and arrow to hold in one hand to wave to me.

“No, I haven’t. I’d love to see,” I wave back as I walk in and take a seat next to the other girls.

Ko aims the arrow once again at a very small target on the opposite side of the room. They take a deep breath and release. The arrow flies across the room at an incredible speed, hitting the target exactly in the center. The three of us applaud.

“That’s amazing, Ko!” Hitomi compliments.

“Truly an Ultimate Archer. That’s really cool,” I add, impressed.

Ko smiles at us, blushing a little. They pull out a small whiteboard and pen, writing a message to show us. ‘Thank you very much! :)’

After a little while of hanging out and watching Ko’s archery skills, Rio bursts into the room holding a cupcake.

“Look!! Look what Chiyumi made!! She made a bunch!! Come to her talent room, she’s sharing them!!” They take a huge bite out of the side of the cupcake. “They’re soo gooooood…” As they continue to eat the cupcake, they exit the room before any of us can respond.

“Oh fuck yeah, cupcakes! Let’s go!” Fumie leads the rest of us out of the archery room and towards the pastry chef room.

Chiyumi is piping some icing onto one of the cupcakes when we walk in. The room has a light pink and white colour scheme. There are a couple small tables with chairs off to one side. Rio’s sitting at one, eating another cupcake.

“You are here for my cupcakes,” Chiyumi states plainly. She smiles at us.

“Fuck yeah we are! Thank youuu,” Fumie says as she picks up one of the iced cupcakes and takes a bite. “Holy shit these are good! You guys gotta try em!” She takes another bite as she walks over to sit next to Rio.

I approach the counter and pick up a cupcake as well. I take a bite and it’s… amazing. The flavour, the texture, the cake to icing ratio, it’s perfect. No wonder she’s an Ultimate…

“These are amazing, Chiyumi. Thank you for sharing,” I smile at her.

“You’re welcome,” She smiles back at me for a moment before going back to her icing.

I sit with the others, Hitomi and Ko each grabbing a cupcake as well before sitting to join us. Apparently Rio had spread the word around to others on the boat as well. Takeshi and Matt come in for cupcakes, followed by Isao, Shōhei, Ayao, Hirai, Mizuki, and Kan. We all sit together at the tables to eat. Isao is the only one who didn’t grab a cupcake… maybe he’s not hungry, or has an allergy or something. It’s fairly quiet besides the sound of our munching, but it’s nice.

Once Chiyumi’s done icing the rest of the cupcakes, she approaches the tables holding a plate full of them. The girl with the pastel blue braid that I didn’t get a chance to talk to yesterday enters the room. Chiyumi looks at her with a blank expression on her face before smiling and holding out the plate.

The girl smirks and strides up to Chiyumi. She brings her hand up under the plate and swiftly smacks it from below, knocking it to the floor and scattering cupcakes everywhere. Chiyumi observes the mess, visibly confused, while the girl snickers and turns around to leave.

“What the fuck was that for!?” Fumie shouts after her, while several others in the group express a similar sentiment through groans. Chiyumi just turns around and gets to work on baking another batch of cupcakes.

Fumie gets up and walks to the kitchen area of the room. “Aren’t you gonna go after her? That was kinda fucked up, you worked hard on those cupcakes!”

“I can bake more,” Chiyumi replies, seeming absolutely unbothered.

“If you won’t, then I’m gonna go find her and see what her deal is!” She turns back to face the tables. “Any of you wanna come with?”

“I will! Those cupcakes were good, Chiyumi doesn’t deserve to be treated like that!” Mizuki stands up and heads out of the room with Fumie.

I decide to leave that to them for now. I’ll look for her later and find out who she even is. For now, I finish up what’s left of my cupcake.

“Have you guys looked around here much since the elevator got fixed? I’m interested in the fifth deck, maybe we can check it out together,” Hirai suggests.

“I wanna see the arcade. Hope they have Rock Band,” Matt says.

“I’d like to look around, too. Shall we?” Isao stands up and gestures towards the door.

“Kan will stay here with Chiyumi while she bakes! He can help clean up the mess that mean girl left, too!”

“See you guys later,” I say as I stand up and push in my chair. All of us but Kan and Chiyumi head out and into the elevator, down to the fifth deck.

The first things we see on the fifth deck are the café and the ice cream shop. The café is fairly small, just a counter with a couple coffee machines and some shelves full of various brews. The ice cream shop has a freezer in the back, with various flavours of ice cream. Both places have tables and chairs.

“Ice creeeaaaammm!!!!” Ayao screams as she runs into the ice cream shop, Rio close behind her. The two get to work scooping themselves some ice cream. The rest of us continue on to see what else is on this deck.

Next, we enter the weapons room. It’s… exactly what it sounds like, a room full of weapons. Guns, knives, axes, swords… there’s a lot of weapons here.

“Why’s there a place like this on a cruise ship…” Shōhei walks around the room and looks at the weapons. Ko is off in a corner with Hitomi looking at some arrows that seem more dangerous than the ones in their talent room.

“It points towards some truth in what that bear was saying in the video. If there’s a whole room for this stuff, I’d assume they’re here for us to use on each other.” I observe one of the knives closely.

“Thaaat’s right!” The voice comes from right behind me, startling me and causing me to drop the knife back on the shelf I found it on. I spin around to see, standing at about two feet tall, that bear from the video.

“W-what the…” I take a step back, nearly running into the shelf of dangerous weaponry.

“Stay back, foul teddy bear! How dare you scare Seiki like that!” Isao steps between me and the bear, holding a sword.

“I’m no teddy bear! I’m Monokuma!” The bear retorts.

“H-hang on, that thing seems dangerous--” Shōhei approaches Isao from the side, carefully avoiding the hand in which he held the sword.

“Don’t worry, Shōhei! I’ll protect you as well! If the sword is what scares you, I’ll simply--” He waves his other hand over the sword, and it suddenly vanishes. “--Make it disappear!” Shōhei and I watch in amazement, and Hirai claps from the other side of the room.

In the midst of the commotion, Matt has managed to approach the bear from behind and grab its ear.

“Hey! Let me go, I’m your headmaster!” The bear yanks his ear out of Matt’s grasp and jumps on top of one of the shelves.

Hitomi approaches the group and looks up at the bear. “Um… Mr. Monokuma?”

“Just Monokuma is fine! What is it?”

“Ok, Monokuma, I’m concerned about how dangerous these weapons are. Is there any way you could lock this room for us?” Hitomi looks unconvinced that it’ll work at all, but is trying anyways.

“Why, of course I will! But I won’t just lock it up for ya, I’ll have to leave you with a key to make sure you can still get in there! How about two, just for good measure? Now then, get out so I can lock it up!”

Surprised that Hitomi’s request actually worked, we all leave the room and Monokuma locks it up behind us.

“Here ya go! Two keys that can unlock this room!” He throws the keys on the floor behind him, and just like that, he’s gone.

“What should we… do with them?” Shōhei approaches the keys on the floor.

“I think we should give them both to someone who’s trustworthy. Like Seiki, I trust her,” Hirai suggests. He picks up the keys and holds them out to me.

“Hold on, why me? Do you… you don’t even know me that well, do you all trust me enough for that?” I look around at the rest of the people around me. Ko is nodding and smiling at me.

“I think you seem trustworthy,” Hitomi agrees.

“I agree as well. A lovely lady like Seiki would never use her access to the weapons room against her fellow classmates,” Isao says.

“A-alright, then… I’ll take them. You can trust me.” I grab the keys out of Hirai’s hand and shove them in my pocket. I’ll have to put them somewhere safe in my room later.

“Okay! Let’s continue then. Looks like the arcade is-” Hirai is interrupted by Matt walking right past him in the direction he was facing, muttering “Rock Band.” Takeshi follows close behind, and the rest of us follow as well.

The room is dark, lit up by bright arcade machines, giving it a very retro feel. Despite this, one side of the room has TV screens set up with much more modern consoles. Looks like the gamer’s paradise. As expected, Matt makes his way to where Rock Band was set up, and grabs the pro guitar controller to play. Takeshi joins him on vocals.

After the rest of us look around for a bit we head out of the arcade, leaving Matt and Takeshi behind since it seemed that they were invested in their Rock Band experience. We move on to check out the games room, which has a large variety of board games and card games along with tables to play them on, and the music room, which has various instruments set up and ready to play. I assume the ultimate keyboardist and guitarist would like this room.

After thoroughly exploring the fifth deck, the six of us settle in the café.

“Anyone want coffee?” Hirai offers as the rest of us sit down, standing facing our table.

Ko shakes their head and smiles.

“Yes, please,” Hitomi quickly replies.

“No thank you,” Isao declines, smiling at Hirai flirtatiously. Seems like almost anything he does is flirtatious, even directed at guys.

“I’ll have some,” Shōhei says, taking off his scarf and setting it down on the table.

“Coffee sounds good,” I accept the offer as well. Hirai walks to the counter and starts making a pot.

“So, no answers yet on why we’re here. If that strange bear really thinks we’re gonna kill each other just to get off this ship, he’s sorely mistaken. I might not know anyone here all that well, but I don’t believe the average teenager would kill just to go home,” Shōhei says.

“You’re right, especially with how well we’re taken care of here. We have to be rescued at some point, anyways. Sixteen teenagers going missing is not gonna go unnoticed.” I sigh and look out another one of the large windows. There really is nothing but ocean out there…

“I don’t like boats… I miss my home. I miss my computer, with all my stories on it… I was working on a concept for my next book, y’know? Now I don’t have access to that anymore. It’s frustrating, but I wouldn’t _kill_ anyone for it…” Hitomi seems homesick already.

“You don’t travel much?” Isao asks, leaning towards Hitomi. She’s visibly discomforted by his close proximity to her.

“Um… I do, sometimes, but always with my laptop. I can’t go a day without a chance to write, as much as I want the key to my talent room I can only assume Monokuma was telling the truth about when other rooms get unlocked…”

Isao rests his hand on Hitomi’s arm. “I’d love to read your writing sometime, a beautiful girl like you must have a wonderful way with words.”

Hitomi scoots her chair away a little. “U-um… I’m, not really… I’m not into guys, at all.” She looks at the floor.

Isao swiftly pulls his hand away. “Oh! I apologize. I hope for you to find a girlfriend just as wonderful as you.” He smiles at Hitomi again, this time less flirtatiously.

“Oh, thank you…” Hitomi seems pleasantly surprised by the positive reaction.

Hirai comes back with a small tray holding four cups of coffee, and sets it down on the table. He takes a seat and grabs one, while each of those of us who requested coffee pick up ours as well.

“Thank you,” Hitomi says before quickly taking a sip. “Ah-!” She puts the cup back down, seeming to have burnt her tongue. I observe her mistake and blow on mine to cool it before taking a small sip.

“So, Hitomi, you’re the Ultimate Writer, right? What kind of books do you write?” Hirai asks before sipping his coffee as well.

“Oh, I write… mostly fantasy novels. I’ve gotten three published, they’re all best-sellers… I’d rather be known for the quality of my writing than the success of my work, though.” She sips her coffee again, this time without burning her tongue. “You’re the Ultimate Blogger, right? What do you write for your blog?”

“I mostly write about different Ultimate talents. I interview people with different talents about how they got their titles, what their talent means to them, and what kind of extraordinary things they can do. I like to find multiple people with the same talent and write articles comparing the different ways their talents work.” Hirai seems excited to share about his blog. He turns to face me before adding, “I’ve actually interviewed an Ultimate Detective before, I’d love to interview you sometime to add onto that.”

I nod as I drink more of my coffee. We talk a little more about talents as we finish our coffees. When I’m finished mine, I stand up from my seat.

“I think I’m gonna look around on the fourth deck now.” I pick up the four empty cups and bring them to the sink in the back of the café.

“I’ll come with you,” Hirai says as he pushes in his chair. “Anyone else wanna join?”

Ko signs to Hitomi, who translates, “Ko wants to go back to their talent room. I think I’ll join you on the fourth deck, to check out the library.” She stands as well and Ko leaves on their own.

“I’ll stay here for now,” Shōhei says, neatly folding his scarf on the table.

“I’ll keep you company.” Isao smiles at Shōhei.

“Alright, let’s get going.” Hirai leads the three of us up to the fourth deck.

On the fourth deck, Hitomi immediately walks ahead of us in search of the library. Hearing voices from inside the indoor garden, Hirai and I enter to see Chiyumi and Kan looking at some flowers.

“Kan thinks they’re pretty…” The boy is crouched down, face to face with some elegant daisies. Chiyumi is watering some plants on the other side of the room.

“Hello Kan! Hello Chiyumi!” Hirai greets the two. “What kind of plants are in here?”

“Pretty flowers! Kan thinks Kayo would like these… Kayo is Kan’s sister. Kan misses Kayo…” He looks sad as he picks one of the daisies.

“Some of the plants have little signs on them warning that they’re poisonous,” Chiyumi says as she moves on to water another plant.

I walk over to see some of the plants. They all have little signs saying what they are, and a few have an added note on the sign. I pick up one to read it.

_Castor Bean Plant_   
_Poisonous! Consume only if you want to die!_

That bear really wants us to kill each other, huh… I put the sign back in the plant’s pot.

“Guess we’ll have to stay away from those,” Hirai comments as he looks at a sign on another toxic plant.

“Yeah. We can only hope no one gets homesick enough to want to use these in a murder.” I turn back around to face the entrance. “I’m gonna keep looking around.” My assumption that Hirai will follow me is incorrect, for once. He stays behind with Chiyumi and Kan to take a look at some more plants.

Out in the hallway, I see the girl with the blue braid heading out of the library. She notices me and walks faster towards the elevator.

“Hey, wait.” I catch up with her and she stops.

“What?” She crosses her arms and scowls at me.

“I never got to meet you, I’d just like to know your name. I’m Seiki Hoshino, the Ultimate Detective.”

“Sachiko Osaki.” She looks at me as if expecting me to recognize her name, though I don’t. “I’m the Ultimate Chess Player. Now, unless you know where I can find a chess set and a worthy opponent, then I’d rather not talk to you any longer.”

“I don’t know about an opponent, but have you checked the games ro-” She cuts me off midway through my suggestion.

“Of course I’ve looked in the games room, that’s the first place I searched! There’s nothing in there. Supposedly I have a talent room, but I didn’t get my key.” She turns on her heel and walks into the elevator, leaving me standing there. Well, at least I got an introduction.

I search the rest of the fourth deck on my own. The pool is a standard indoor pool, with huge glass windows displaying the ocean outside. The gym has various exercise equipment. Mizuki is just finishing up a workout when I walk in.

“Oh! Hey Seiki,” She pants. “I was thinkin’ ‘bout getting some food right away. It’s right around dinner time. Wanna come with?”

“That sounds good.” I realize just how hungry I am after a long day of exploring the cruise ship. After I take a good look around the gym, the two of us leave and go back up to the second deck.

We walk into the kitchen to find Ayao and Rio sitting on the floor and building something else out of poptarts.

“Seiki!! Mizuki!! We’re making dinner!!” Ayao waves up at as, grinning.

“Ooh, poptart!” Mizuki grabs one from the top of the creation, shoving it into her mouth.

“Um… I don’t think everyone wants poptarts for dinner, so I’ll make something else.” I begin to search the cabinets for something fairly easy to prepare and settle on spaghetti.

“Good idea!! I can help!” Rio stands up as Ayao carefully protects the poptart structure so it doesn’t fall over like the first one did.

“Oh, spaghetti! I know how to make a killer sauce, lemme get started on that! Rio, you can help me.” Mizuki starts grabbing ingredients from the fridge and directing Rio on how to help while I cook the pasta on the stove.

Once the food is ready, I help Ayao put away some of the poptarts before letting her bring out the plate with a smaller pile still on top. The four of us eat together in the dining hall. At one point, Takeshi, Matt, and Hirai end up joining us.

“Rio!! Tell me more about space!!” Ayao shoves a forkful of spaghetti into her mouth after her request.

“Okay!! Uh, there’s lots of stars up there! They’re all big, and bright, and pretty! Then there’s the moon, I wanna go to the moon!! I like to look at the moon, I have a really fancy telescope that I use to look really close at the moon from really far away!! I was so excited when I got it that I shoved my face right into it, now I can’t see out of this eye,” They point at their eyepatch as they explain, “But I can still see the moon out of this eye!!” They point at their working eye before taking another bite of their dinner.

“Cool!! Not the eye thing, that sounds painful… I wanna see out of a telescope like that!!” Ayao grabs another poptart and shoves the entire thing into her mouth.

“I can show you it!! When we get back home you can come over and see it!! Be careful though, don’t shove your eye into it!!” Rio seems happy to be sharing their talent with their new friend.

The rest of us stay relatively quiet throughout the meal as Ayao and Rio’s conversation continues like that. When I’m finished my meal, I bring my dish back to the kitchen before heading up to my cabin to rest.

The first thing I do when I get to my cabin is hide the keys to the weapons room amongst the clothes in my dresser. Hopefully that’s good enough… I take a seat on my bed and spend some time messing around on my Monopad. There’s a few more places on the map that I haven’t seen yet, so I decide to look at those tomorrow. I find a list of school rules that I hadn’t noticed before. These seem pretty important.

_Rule 1: Students may reside only within the cruise ship. Leaving the ship is an unacceptable use of time._

Yeah, as if there were even a way out… everything’s blocked off by windows.

_Rule 2: "Nighttime" is from 10 pm to 7 am. Some areas are off-limits at night, so please exercise caution._   
_Rule 3: Sleeping anywhere other than the cabins will be seen as sleeping in class and punished accordingly._   
_Rule 4: With minimal restrictions, you are free to explore the cruise ship at your discretion._   
_Rule 5: Violence against headmaster Monokuma is strictly prohibited, as is destruction of surveillance cameras._   
_Rule 6: Anyone who kills a fellow student and becomes "blackened" will graduate, unless they are discovered._

That “graduation” thing again. Is it really true…?

_Rule 7: Once a murder takes place, a class trial will begin shortly thereafter. Participation is mandatory for all surviving students._   
_Rule 8: If the guilty party is exposed during the class trial, they alone will be executed._   
_Rule 9: If the guilty party is not exposed, they alone will graduate, and all remaining students will be executed._

All remaining students… that means if someone did kill, and we didn’t figure it out, the rest of us would…

There’s no way that’ll happen. This all feels too elaborate to just be a prank, by this point, but if no one kills then whoever’s behind this won’t get what they want. Then we’ll have to be let go.

_“It is now 10pm. As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then... Sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite...”_

I didn’t realize how much time had passed, but I glance out the window and the sky is dark. With nothing else to do at the moment, I decide to go to sleep for the night.


	3. Chapter 1: Day 2

_"Good morning, everyone! It is now 7am and nighttime is officially over! Time to rise and shine! Get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day!"_

The second time hearing that announcement and I’m already sick of it. I get up, get changed, and head down to the fifth deck to get some coffee. Hitomi is already there, starting to make a pot.

“Good morning, Hitomi.”

“Oh, good morning Seiki. Here for some coffee?” She grabs a second cup down from the shelf for me.

“Yeah, thanks.” When the coffee’s finished brewing, I pour myself some. I set it down on the counter to let it cool for a bit first while Hitomi puts some sugar and cream in hers.

“You like black coffee?” She asks, noticing my lack of adding anything to my coffee.

“Yeah, it’s alright with sugar or cream but I prefer it this way.” I pick it up again and blow on it a little to help it cool down faster.

“I like any sort of coffee, but I tend to prefer sweet things.” She dumps a couple sugar packets into her cup and stirs it together before taking a sip.

“I’m gonna go back to the library, I wanna see what else is there. Yesterday I kinda just picked up a book and got reading ‘til the nighttime announcement…” She smiles sheepishly. “Um… do you wanna come with me?”

“Sure, I haven’t gotten around to checking out the library yet.” I take a sip of my coffee and we leave the café.

The library is full of bookshelves, as expected. There’s a seating area with a couple couches and chairs in a corner near the entrance, and a long desk off to one side with four computers. Rei is sitting at the one furthest from the entrance. I decide not to approach him and instead follow Hitomi to the shelves.

“Hitomi!! Hitomi!! I found your books!!” Rio pops up from behind one of the shelves, holding three books in their hands.

“My books are here?” Hitomi takes the books from Rio in her free arm. ‘Savior Without a Home’, ‘Duchess of the Light’, and ‘Clinging to the Mist’. Surely enough, all of them have ‘Written by Hitomi Takara’ printed on the cover.

“I remember reading Duchess of the Light for a project at school! We got to choose our own books, and I thought the cover looked pretty! It was really good, I can’t believe you actually wrote it! That’s so cool!!” Rio seems impressed by Hitomi’s talent.

“Oh, thank you,” Hitomi smiles gratefully at the compliments.

“I’d be interested in reading one of your books, to see what earned you your title as an Ultimate. Which one would you suggest?” I sip my coffee as Hitomi hands the books back to Rio.

“For you… maybe Clinging to the Mist. There’s a prominent detective character, and most of what I know about you so far is that you’re a detective, so…” She sips her coffee again and browses the shelf behind us.

I approach Rio and they hand me the book Hitomi mentioned. I take it and make my way to the seating area, starting to read. Shortly after, Rio joins me with the other book Hitomi wrote that they hadn’t read yet, and Hitomi comes along with a different book she found on one of the shelves. We sit and silently read together, while Rio quietly hums a little now and then. I can hear Rei clicking and tapping on the keyboard on the other side of the room, but it’s not too distracting.

We’re peacefully reading like that for a good few hours, when suddenly, the speakers switch on.

_“Good afternoon, everyone! I’ve decided something very important: I am bored. You guys have barely done anything since you got here! Why don’t you all head back to the theatre you woke up in and I’ll introduce something fun and new? This isn’t a suggestion. Failure to attend will be treated as a violation of the rules. Seeya soon!”_

I check the clock to see that the announcement played at exactly 11:50am. I take note of what page I was on and set the book down on the table in front of me.

“Let’s go together,” Hitomi says as she stands up. I nod and the three of us exit the library. It seems Rei has already left.

We enter the theatre and almost everyone is already there. We grab some seats near the front and wait for the last couple people to show up. Once nearly everyone is there, Monokuma comes through the door dragging Sachiko by her braid and throwing her into a chair. I can hear some giggling from further back in the theatre, to which Sachiko turns around and snaps, “Fuck off!”

Monokuma makes his way up onto the stage. “Now then, everyone’s here. Welcome to your first class assembly! Today, I’m going to introduce something to spice things up a little. You know that whole killing thing I mentioned? Well that’s the fun part of being here! If no one murders, you don’t get to do any investigations, class trials, or see any of the wonderful executions I’ve prepared for each of you! So, I’m gonna give you a little incentive, another reason to kill besides just leaving this lovely little ship. Your first motive! Oh, and this motive is a fun one, too! It starts with a voice clip from someone on the outside, a loved one of yours that I’ve kidnapped. Now, if I just…” He searches around himself as if patting down nonexistent pockets before pulling out a button from behind his back. “Here we are! We’ll start with Miss Asami Fukuma, the twin sister of Fumie Fukuma!” The bear swiftly presses the button and an audio plays over the speakers.

 _“Fumie? W-what did you do with my sister? P-please don’t hurt her, she’s been through enough already… I-I’ll do anything just pl-”_ The audio cuts off abruptly.

“Asami!!” Fumie shouts as she stands from her seat. “Where the fuck is she!? Don’t you dare fucking touch her!!”

Monokuma laughs on stage. “Oh, it’s not too late for you to save her! You see, how this motive works is, you have one hour starting riiight… now! At 1pm, Asami will be killed! That is, unless you or someone else kills before that time runs out! Upupupu, now get killing!” He disappears backstage before anyone else can say a word or Fumie can get to him.

“What the fuck, what the fuck, man! There’s no way that’s, but that was her voice- I can’t do this. I’m not gonna fucking kill someone, what the fuck! WHAT THE FUCK!!” Fumie angrily kicks the front of the stage hard, hurting her foot in the process. She grabs her injured foot and hops back on her other leg, taking a seat on an empty chair in the front row.

Hitomi approaches her. “Hey… do you wanna go to the nurse’s office to get some ice for that?” Fumie nods without saying another word.

“I’ll come with!” Mizuki approaches the two from further back in the theatre. “Mind if I carry ya down there? So you don’t have to walk on your hurt foot.”

“Go ahead.” Mizuki lifts Fumie up and the three leave the theatre.

“Hmm, a motive… wonder which one of us will kill to save a loved one.” Rei emerges from the back of the theatre. It seems everyone else shares the same idea as me and no one responds to him as he leaves the theatre. One by one, other people start to leave. With something like this going on, I don’t know if I feel safe wandering around alone.

As if reading my mind, Hirai approaches me. “Hey, wanna stick together while the motive’s going on? Kinda scary stuff.”

“Yeah, that would be great.” I stand up and leave the theatre with him to sit in the general hangout where a few other people are as well.

It’s… quiet. Most of the silences I’ve experienced on this ship thus far haven’t been too unpleasant, but this one has an awful tension, as if we were all just waiting for the hour to pass, to see what exactly was going to happen. I don’t know Fumie very well, or her sister Asami at all, but there’s no way either of them did anything to deserve this…

“I’d like to go back to the library. I was reading there, I think I need the distraction.” I stand up from my seat.

“I’ll go with you,” Hirai says, standing as well. I nod and we head down to the fourth deck.

When we get to the library, I sit down and pick up the book I left on the table. It’s hard to concentrate on the words as I read them, but I manage to distract myself at least a little. Hirai goes to check out one of the computers while I read.

Some more time passes, and the speakers switch on once again, and Monokuma’s voice rings out across the room.

_“Asami Fukuma has been killed! In one hour, at 2pm, the next loved one will be announced!”_

My heart sinks. I can’t even imagine what Fumie’s feeling right now… but I can hear it as she comes stomping out of the nurse’s office on this deck and past the library.

“What the fuck!! What the fucking shit!! There’s no way this is real!! WHAT THE FUCK!!” She screams as she makes her way to the elevator, Mizuki and Hitomi cautiously following behind, likely wanting to comfort her. I try to focus on the book I’m reading, anxiously waiting for time to pass.

With nothing else to do, Hirai and I stay in the library. At one point Kan wanders in, finds a book to read, and sits down on the couch next to me. Once another hour has passed, the dreaded announcement plays.

 _“It is now 2pm! The next loved one is Hitomi Takara’s editor, Aki Takemoto!” The audio over the speakers switches to the voice of a young man. “Huh, Hitomi? What’s going on here, let me go! Where’s Hitomi, is she okay? What-”_ And just like the first one, the audio cuts off. _“If someone kills within the next hour, he’ll be saved! If not, he’ll be killed! Upupupu, happy killing!”_

I look at the book I’m reading. I can only assume Aki edited this for Hitomi… I can’t bring myself to continue reading without that thought plaguing my mind. I memorize the page number, close the book, and set it back down on the table. I stand up again and walk over to the computers where Hirai still is.

“Find anything?” I take a seat next to him.

“Not much, there’s a couple basic programs, and a map of the ship. It’s more detailed than the one on our Monopads, it shows the layouts of each room. There’s still no map of the sixth deck, though. No connection to the internet, either.” He closes the map window on his screen and gets up from his chair. “I’m gonna look for something to read for now.”

I scoot my chair over to the computer Hirai was sitting at to see for myself. It’s exactly as he described, and I can assume the other three in the row are the same as well. I spend some time examining the details on the map.

Eventually, that dreaded announcement plays.

_“Aki Takemoto has been killed! In one hour, at 4pm, the next loved one will be announced!”_

I hope Hitomi is with someone who can comfort her right now. If only there were some way to stop these killings besides killing another person on this ship… I need to get out of the library. I shut down the computer and stand to face Hirai and Kan.

“Do you guys wanna go to the arcade or something? I think a distraction would be nice.”

“Yeah, sure,” Hirai agrees, placing the book he had back on the shelf. “I wasn’t all that interested in this anyways.” Kan silently follows us out and we head down to the fifth deck.

When we enter the arcade, I hear loud music coming from one side of the room. We approach the source of the sound to find Matt and Takeshi playing Rock Band once again. They’re just finishing up a song as we get there.

“Seiki, Hirai, and… Kan, was it? Hi,” Takeshi greets the three of us. Kan nods to confirm his name to Takeshi.

“Hello. Is it alright if we join you guys? I think we could all use a distraction.” I glance at the other instrument controllers off to the side.

“Sure, go ahead! Which would you like to play?” Takeshi puts down his microphone controller and walks towards the instruments, ready to hand me one.

“I’ll try… drums,” I reply, walking over to help him set them up.

“I’ll just watch, I’m not all that great at music or rhythm related games.” Hirai takes a seat off to the side. It seems that Kan has distracted himself with a different arcade machine nearby.

As soon as I’m set up and ready to play, Matt’s picking the next song. I pick easy for the first song to gauge how difficult it is, and move up to medium for the next few songs. We’re jamming and having fun for a good while, and I almost forget the situation we’re in… until between songs, the next announcement plays.

_“It is now 4pm! The next loved one is Seiki Hoshino’s best friend, Sawao Yasuda!”_

Wait… what?

 _“Seiki, you gotta help me! I don’t know what’s going on, what are they gonna do to me!? Please tell me you’re safe-- you gotta get me out of here-”_ It cuts off again. _“If someone kills within the next hour, they’ll be saved! If not, they’ll be killed! Upupupu, happy killing!”_

I stare blankly at the screen in front of me, in shock.

“Hey, it’s gonna be okay…” Takeshi puts a hand on my shoulder to comfort me.

“I… can’t remember… who that is,” I admit. Takeshi and Matt look at me in confusion.

“What do you mean, you can’t remember? Didn’t Monokuma say they were your best friend?” Hirai walks towards us, just as confused.

“Yeah, and I can only assume they are… but ever since I got here, I can’t remember anything from the past few years. All I can remember is my talent, and my childhood… it cuts off right around the age of eleven. Maybe I’d be upset, if I could even remember who that was… but whoever they are, I’m sure they don’t deserve to die.” Thoughts are swirling through my head. Some part of me, deep inside my brain, recognizes that name. If only I could remember more…

“I need to take a walk. I need some time to wrap my head around this.” I stand up and leave the arcade on my own. The thought that I have close relationships that would be important to me if I could only remember who they were… it’s insane.

I go to the café, which is currently empty, and make myself a cup of tea. I sit down by myself to drink it, looking out the window at the ocean. I just wish I could remember… Why am I the only one missing my memories? I just wish I knew what caused this amnesia.

I sit alone with my thoughts for a long while, drinking my tea. It’s probably been over half an hour. I bring my empty cup to the sink and head back to the arcade, where the others are still playing Rock Band.

“Seiki, you’re back,” Hirai greets me, as Takeshi and Matt are in the middle of a song and Kan is still off in his own world playing another arcade game. He seems to be trying out several.

“Hi. I just needed to clear my head, I’m… kind of alright, now.” I take a seat next to Hirai, waiting to join in again on the next song.

We play a couple more songs together. Time passes. After a while, I check the clock between songs, wondering when the next announcement is coming.

“It’s 5:08pm.”

“Hm?” Hirai stands up and checks the clock as well. “Yeah, it is.” He seems confused about why I mentioned it.

“The next announcement was supposed to happen at five. It’s 5:08. That means… someone…” Oh no.

Oh no no no no no no no no.

“Oh shit,” Takeshi says, looking at the clock as well. Kan, who overheard our conversation, approaches us.

“Should we… look for it?” Hirai suggests.

“We need to see it at some point. Did you guys see the rules on the Monopads? If we can’t find the culprit… the rest of us are executed. We need to investigate, especially me, as the Ultimate Detective… even if it’s one of our friends, killed by one of our friends. We have to find the truth.”

“You’re right. Let’s go look…” Takeshi seems unenthusiastic, an emotion shared by all of us. We stick together and head out of the arcade, searching the fifth deck first.

[TRIGGER WARNING] (skip past the next line if you don’t want any spoilers, but please read if you want to be prepared for any potentially triggering content.)  
 _mentions of poison, coughing up blood, vomiting_

There’s no dead bodies on the fifth deck, nor the fourth deck when we search there. Though, in the indoor garden I notice a couple seeds missing from the castor bean plant I saw yesterday. One of them fell on the floor near the door, nowhere near the plant, which brings me to assume that someone brought them out of the room. This could be important…

On the third deck, Takeshi searches his own talent room while the rest of us check the other two. Hirai and I check the archery room, where we find Ko practicing alone. We explain the situation to them and they join our search party. Kan comes out of the pastry chef’s room with Chiyumi, and we all head up the elevator to the second deck.

I walk directly through the hangout area where a few of the others are sitting, and into the dining hall. There’s nothing too out of place… until I look into the bar. Not visible from outside the dining hall, on the floor of the bar, I see it… a small figure laying face down, with a bit of blood around them. I rush over to see exactly who it is.

Rio Uchiyama, the Ultimate Astronomer, is dead.

I gasp and take a couple steps back. Most of the group I came up here with catches up with me and sees the body as well.

_ding dong dong ding “A body has been discovered! After a certain amount of time, which you may use however you like, the class trial will begin!"_

“They’re… dead?” Takeshi backs away from the body in shock. Matt looks away uncomfortably.

Ayao comes running in through the crowd to see what’s going on. Her eyes widen in horror when she spots the corpse. “RIIOOOOOO!!!!!” She screams, tears falling down her face as she runs over to crouch down next to Rio’s lifeless body. “No, Rioooo!!”

I feel a little dizzy so I sit down in the dining hall, deciding to wait for the crowd to disperse before conducting my own investigation.

“What the fuck…” Hitomi steps back, looking nauseous. She rushes over to the nearest trash can and vomits. Mizuki and Fumie go to help her, taking any excuse to not look at the body for any longer. Shōhei and Isao leave the room.

Sachiko looks at the body with a face of disgust. She quickly inspects the area before leaving as well.

As people start to clear out of the room, Rei comes in to see the body. “Ah, looks like things are finally getting interesting. Aren’t you gonna investigate, Ultimate Detective?”

“Death is what you call ‘getting interesting’?” I glare at him. “I will. I just needed to sit down for a moment.”

“Or maybe you don’t need to investigate, because you did it. It was your best friend being threatened by the motive, after all.” 

“That’s--” I don’t know what to say. Rei ignores me and strides over to Rio’s body on the floor. Ayao has backed off and is now sobbing at the other end of the dining hall.

I really have no solid excuse… will Kan, Matt, Takeshi, and Hirai back me up on the fact that I don’t remember anything about that person? I told them that immediately after the announcement. I can only hope they won’t doubt me.

Once Rei has conducted his investigation and left, I make my way into the bar myself. I start by looking around the body for any clues. On the bar counter, there’s a cupcake wrapper with crumbs. That seems to be the only thing… I approach Rio’s body to inspect them more closely. The blood I saw on the floor seems to have come from their mouth… they were probably poisoned via cupcake, coughed up blood, and died.

There’s nothing else out of place in the bar, so I search anywhere else I can think of. As I’m on the elevator heading down to the third deck, I notice a notification on my Monopad.

_Monokuma File 01_   
_Victim: Rio Uchiyama_   
_Time of death: 4:37pm_   
_Cause of death: ingested poison_

Well that confirms my assumption about how Rio died. As I finish reading it, the elevator doors open and I exit onto the third deck. I make my way into the pastry chef’s room, which was left open when we found Chiyumi there while looking for the body. I note that some baking utensils appear to be recently used, but it’s not unlikely that Chiyumi was baking when we found her, so that could mean nothing. There are several plates of decorated cupcakes on the counter. Someone could’ve stolen one of her cupcakes and poisoned Rio…

My train of thought is interrupted by another announcement from Monokuma.

_"Erm, so ah... I'm getting tired of waiting. What say we just get started, hm? It's time for the long-awaited... Class trial! Now then, allow me to appoint a proper location for the proceedings. Please go down to the sixth deck now available on the elevator! Puhuhu. See you soon!"_

I’ve run out of time to investigate… I hope I’ve found everything of relevance. I exit the pastry chef’s room, and wait for the elevator. It opens with everyone from the first and second decks inside, and I step in to join them. It stops on the fourth and fifth decks as well, gathering all fifteen of us, before descending to the sixth deck.


	4. Chapter 1: Class Trial

The elevator reaches the sixth deck at the bottom of the ship. The doors open to reveal a fairly large room. In the center, there are sixteen podiums arranged in a circle, with a gap on one end where a small chair is raised on a pedestal above them. When I walk closer to inspect the podiums, I notice that they each have a name engraved on the inside. Two podiums away from the chair, a stand holds a picture frame with a photo of Rio’s face in black and white, crossed out with something similar to blood.

I walk around the room to find the podium with my name and step up into place. Everyone else does the same. There’s tension in the air as I look around at everyone in the circle. One of these people… killed Rio.

[TRIGGER WARNING] (skip past the next line if you don’t want any spoilers, but please read if you want to be prepared for any potentially triggering content.)  
 _mentions of poison, coughing up blood_

Once everyone’s taken their places, Monokuma jumps out from behind the small chair, taking a seat on it.

“Let’s begin with a basic explanation of the class trial! So, your votes will determine the results. If you can figure out ‘whodunnit,’ then only they will receive punishment. But if you pick the wrong one… then I’ll punish everyone besides the blackened, and the one that deceived everyone else will graduate! Now, get discussing the evidence, and I’ll let you know when it’s time to vote!”

“I think Seiki did it,” Rei says immediately.

“What?” I expected this from him, but right off the bat…

“Well, it was your best friend being threatened, yes? You killed to save them. Poor Rio… you tricked them with a delicious cupcake, too! How awful.”

“Hold on now, I think we should start by establishing alibis,” Shōhei interjects. “Isao, Ayao, and I were in the general hangout together, pretty much ever since the motive was introduced. All three of us were definitely there at the time of the murder.”

“Indeed we were,” Isao confirms. “None of us left between when the announcement about poor Sawao was played and when Seiki and the others came through, looking for the body.”

“Mhm…” Ayao sniffles as she backs them up.

“Fumie and Hitomi were with me the whole time. We went to the nurse’s office for Fumie’s hurt foot, and hung out in her cabin ‘til we heard about the body,” Mizuki explains. Hitomi nods and Fumie keeps quiet for the moment, presumably upset about her sister.

Ko signs to Hitomi, who translates for them. “Ko was in their talent room for most of the day. They apologize for their lack of alibi and hope we trust them.”

“I was in my talent room the whole time as well,” Chiyumi says.

“Matt and I were playing Rock Band in the arcade for most of the day,” Takeshi states. “Between the last two motive related announcements, Hirai, Seiki, and Kan joined us.”

“Did Seiki leave at all during that time? Perhaps, run off and kill Rio?” Rei smirks.

“Well…” Takeshi looks like he doesn’t want to admit it.

“Kan… Kan heard Seiki say that she didn’t remember. She doesn’t know who Sawao is, so Kan doesn’t think Seiki killed Rio!”

Rei bursts out laughing. “She doesn’t remember? What a lame excuse. Seiki, why would you tell such a stupid lie to this kid? Doesn’t he seem pretty gullible? Maybe you’re even more cruel than I thought.”

“It’s not a lie! I can’t remember anything from the past five years besides my talent,” I explain, doubtful that I’ll be able to get through to him.

“She said it right after the announcement played. Seemed like too quick of a response for her to have come up with it on the spot,” Matt defends me.

“I agree, there’s no way she’s lying about this,” Takeshi backs him up.

“I think it’s possible,” Hirai says. “She did leave after hearing that announcement, and didn’t come back until after the time of death listed on the Monokuma file.”

I look at Hirai, shocked. I thought he trusted me… he was the one who suggested I keep the keys to the weapons room, why is he turning on me now?

“Didn’t come back until after the time of death, you say? I think we’ve found our culprit.” Rei grins smugly.

“Hold on, you were the first one to accuse Seiki. Doesn’t that make you suspicious? Where were you during the time of death?” Mizuki interjects, clearly seeing through his blind accusations.

“I was in my room. No alibi. But what reason would I have to kill? I don’t mind this place, I’m nowhere near desperate to leave. No one I knew was being threatened by the motive. Go ahead and vote for me, if you all want to die.” Yeah, I really don’t like this guy.

“Let’s get through everyone else’s alibis and lower it down to suspects based on that,” I redirect the conversation. “Rei, Ko, Chiyumi, and I don’t have alibis for the time of the murder. Sachiko is the only one who hasn’t spoken yet. Do you have an alibi?”

“I was in my room as well. Where else would I be?” She snaps in response.

“Okay, that’s five of us. We should look at the murder weapon to lower it down further,” I suggest.

“Rio was stabbed in the mouth! I saw blood down their chin and on the floor,” Ayao states, still with a sad look on her face.

“Stabbed? How horrible…” Isao gasps dramatically.

“Did anyone find the murder weapon? Was there a bloody knife anywhere?” Mizuki questions.

“Matt and I investigated everywhere we could. We didn’t find anything like that,” Takeshi says.

“Didn’t you guys check the Monopads? You were even talking about the time of the murder, it says right there that the cause of death was poison,” Fumie points out.

“Poison? How horrible…” Isao gasps dramatically, again.

“Fumie’s right. The cause of death was poison. I believe the blood Ayao mentioned was coughed up by Rio after they ingested the poison,” I explain.

“Where would they have gotten poison from? I’m not surprised there’d be poison here, but I didn’t end up investigating all that much…” Shōhei fidgets with the end of his scarf as he speaks.

“There’s deadly plants in the indoor garden,” Matt says.

“Yeah,” Takeshi confirms. “Matt and I went there this morning with Ayao, before the motive started. There were a couple of plants labelled poisonous in the back.”

“Kan, Chiyumi, Seiki, and I saw those yesterday,” Hirai mentions. “Did anyone else go to the indoor garden?” A couple people shake their heads.

“I only went there during the investigation period,” Rei says. “I saw where Seiki stole some seeds from the castor bean plant, and where she dropped one by the door.”

“I didn’t kill Rio, but I can verify that I saw the missing seeds from the plant as well. That must be the murder weapon.” I’m frustrated that Rei keeps pointing the blame towards me, but glad that the trial is progressing.

“So, did the killer just… feed the seeds to Rio? I don’t think they’d look very tasty, I’m not sure if Rio would wanna eat them…” Ayao seems doubtful.

“You idiots, the killer baked the seeds into a cupcake. There was a wrapper on the counter in the bar,” Sachiko says, finally doing something useful for once.

“Sachiko’s right, there was a cupcake wrapper, and I can only assume Rio ate the cupcake that was in it. Whether the seeds were originally baked in or added later, however, I’m not sure.” I think hard about whether there’s a way to tell at this point whether the seeds were added before or after the cupcake was baked, but the answer to that could help lead us to the culprit.

“Chiyumi’s the only one who’s baked any cupcakes here, right? Does that mean…” Mizuki looks like she doesn’t like what she’s saying.

“Chiyumi, did anyone help you make any cupcakes since getting here?” I face her, knowing that whether intentional or not, her cupcakes played a role in this murder.

“No. Kan helped clean up the ones that were knocked over, but never helped me bake any,” Chiyumi answers.

“Did anyone come in and take any of your cupcakes today?”

“Rio came by in the morning and grabbed one. They ate it in front of me and seemed fine.”

“No one else?” She shakes her head to confirm.

“So, Seiki. When did you sneak in and steal one of the cupcakes? While her back was turned? Did she go to the bathroom and you snagged one while she was gone?” Rei still seems convinced that I did it.

“I didn’t leave the fifth deck until we realized it was after 5pm. Shōhei, Isao, Ayao, you three were in the general hangout the whole time, right? Did you see anyone walk by?”

“Um… I remember seeing Rio… they might’ve been with someone,” Ayao says.

“It was a beautiful young lady that walked past with them. I remember her… it was…” Isao looks like he’s struggling to remember. “A beautiful girl with a beautiful ponytail.”

“Uh oh, Seiki. Looks like you were seen,” Rei comments, smirking.

“No, it wasn’t Seiki. I saw who it was when she was walking back to the elevator,” Shōhei says. “It was Chiyumi. She was holding a carton of milk, so I assumed she was running low in her talent room and had just come up to get some.”

“Chiyumi… Kan doesn’t think Chiyumi would do that! Kan thinks you’re mean for accusing her!” The boy pouts as he speaks.

“I’m not accusing Chiyumi of anything, I’m just stating a fact.” Shōhei looks nervous, like he doesn’t want to be the reason we vote for Chiyumi.

“Chiyumi? Was it… really you?” Hitomi looks like she doesn’t want to believe it.

Chiyumi faces forward, a blank expression on her face. The room falls quiet as we wait to hear her defense, but it doesn’t come.

“Hello-o?” Rei calls out to her. She doesn’t respond.

“Why didn’t you mention that you went to get milk from the kitchen earlier?” I question her. She remains quiet.

After another moment, she speaks. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“But… they saw you,” I say. “Are you denying what Shōhei said?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” She repeats.

“I knew it was her all along. It was obvious, I can’t believe it took you guys this long to figure it out,” Sachiko spits out.

“Not even gonna try to defend yourself?” Rei snickers. “I mean, I’ll admit I was wrong about Seiki, but at least she was putting up a fight. Damn, now I wish it was her, that would’ve been more fun, but it’s so obviously you.”

I glare at Rei once again before turning back to Chiyumi. She’s still staring blankly ahead. “If you really have nothing else to say… I think we should take a look at this case from start to finish.”

“It started sometime between noon and the victim’s time of death, 4:37pm. The culprit snuck into the indoor garden on the fourth deck and stole some castor bean seeds from the toxic castor bean plant. They didn’t notice, but as they were leaving, they dropped one of the seeds near the door.  
Back in their talent room, the culprit baked a special cupcake for their victim, mixing the toxic seeds into the batter. Sometime after the announcement at 4pm threatening the life of Sawao Yasuda, the culprit had met up with Rio and made their way to the second deck.  
With the deadly cupcake in hand, the killer lured Rio into the bar, where they’d be out of sight of Shōhei, Isao, and Ayao in the general hangout. Rio, already a fan of the culprit’s cupcakes, happily accepted the poisonous one when offered it. Within minutes of eating the cupcake packed with castor bean seeds, Rio fell to the ground, coughing up blood, and died.  
With the murder weapon being what Rio had consumed, the killer quickly sought to cover up their reason for coming to the second deck. They grabbed a carton of milk from the kitchen, and made their way back down to their talent room to wait for their talent to be discovered. Unfortunately, they failed to mention this earlier in the trial when alibis were being discussed, thus making them look even more suspicious.  
The culprit of this cupcake crime, Rio’s killer, is none other than… Chiyumi Sakuma, the Ultimate Pastry Chef.”

I take a deep breath after going over the murder. No one seems to have any strong objections, and Chiyumi still isn’t defending herself.

“I don’t… know what you’re talking about…” She repeats again, expression just as blank as before.

“Puhuhuhu! Looks like you’re ready to vote! Now then, use the lever in front of you to make your selection! Who will be chosen as the blackened?” I feel sick to my stomach at Monokuma’s words, but I know I have to make a choice. I select Chiyumi, aware that it’s the right thing to do.

I watch around the circle as everyone enters their votes. No one looks happy about this. Chiyumi’s blank expression remains as she looks down to select her vote as well.

When everyone’s votes are in, a small slot machine pops up from the floor in front of the pedestal Monokuma sits on top of. The pictures are each of our faces, and they spin in place for a moment before all three land on Chiyumi.

“Look at that! You guys got it right, first try! Not that you would’ve had a second try if you’d gotten it wrong! The blackened in this case, the one who killed Rio Uchiyama, is none other than Chiyumi Sakuma!”

We all look at Chiyumi. Her blank expression remains.

“It really was you…” Hitomi looks away from her, visibly upset.

“You killed… Rio…” Ayao starts to cry again.

“Chiyumi… why did you do it?” I ask, hoping she’ll have time to respond before whatever punishment Monokuma has planned for her.

She stays silent for a moment before facing Monokuma. “This means I lost, right?”

“Yep! They figured you out, puhuhu!”

Chiyumi turns back to face me. “I wanted to go home.”

“That’s… that’s all?” I still can’t believe that she’d kill someone just to go home…

“I’m not used to meeting new people. This place has made me extremely uncomfortable. I’ve never left my home in my entire life. I’ve been homeschooled by Aunt Shioko. Mr. Monokuma talked about a way to get home, by killing someone. I remembered from books back at home that if you eat poisonous things, you die. So I fed poisonous things to someone who liked my cupcakes.” She says this all calmly, as if she doesn’t realize what she did was wrong.

“You killed Rio just so you could go home? Not even for the fuckin’ motive that was going on? What the fuck, Chiyumi?” Fumie voices essentially what I, and probably most of the others are thinking right now.

“I’m sorry. I’m not used to meeting new people. I was just following Mr. Monokuma’s rules.” She seems to have noticed that we’re upset, but doesn’t know how to handle it.

“Now then! If you’re all done explaining yourself, I suppose it’s time for your punishment!”

Chiyumi nods as she faces Monokuma. Something tells me she’s not fully aware of what ‘punishment’ entails here…

“I’ve prepared a very special punishment for Chiyumi Sakuma, the Ultimate Pastry Chef!” We all stare at him, and Chiyumi nods again in acknowledgement.

“Let’s give it everything we’ve got! It’s… PUNISHMENT TIIIME!!” A bright red button appears in front of Monokuma, and he swings a gavol down to hit it.

[TRIGGER WARNING] (skip past the next line if you don’t want any spoilers, but please read if you want to be prepared for any potentially triggering content.)  
 _fire, burning to death_

_THE ULTIMATE PASTRY CHEF’S RECIPE FOR DESPAIR_

_Chains clamp over Chiyumi’s body, dragging her out of the trial room and into the execution zone. She’s dropped into a huge bowl of cake batter, where a gigantic electric mixer above her is lowered down and switched on. The mixer moves every which way, mixing up the batter and pushing Chiyumi around inside the bowl. The sharp edges of it just barely scrape her every now and then as she tries to squirm out of the way. Her cuts sting in the batter, and she can hardly move._

_Eventually, the mixer shuts off and the bowl tips over, spilling the batter into a cupcake tray. Chiyumi is stuck in one of the cups, covered in batter and still bound by chains. A giant Monokuma picks up the tray and shoves it inside an oven, setting the temperature incredibly high. The inside of the oven very quickly gets hotter and hotter, Chiyumi sweating in her place. She tries to squirm out of the cup but the cake begins to bake around her, making it harder to move. Her skin is burning up and flames rise around the cupcake tray._

_The fire spreads to the cupcakes baking inside the tray, including the one Chiyumi is stuck in. She screams and cries for help, but none arrives, and she can’t escape. The fire burns up her entire body, killing her._

_The giant Monokuma opens up the oven and sprays a fire extinguisher over the tray before pulling it out. He places the burnt cupcake containing Chiyumi’s charred corpse onto a plate and pipes an elegant swirl of blood pink icing on top of her head._

_Chiyumi Sakuma, the Ultimate Pastry Chef, is dead._

I can’t take my eyes off of the execution. My head is spinning, and as much as I don’t want to watch, I can’t look away. It’s too much, it’s all too much… just yesterday, she was sharing her cupcakes with us, and now she’s being executed for murder in front of us…

“That was quite the show! Anyone wanna go get something to eat?” Rei immediately starts heading for the elevator. No one responds to him, and he just leaves on his own.

“Hey,” Hirai approaches me. “Sorry for suspecting you… we should head up to the cabins and get some rest. That was… something…” He can’t seem to find words to describe the execution. Neither can I. We walk into the elevator with a few others and head up, almost all of us going directly to our cabins.

When I get into my cabin, I flop down onto the bed. I can’t get the vision of Chiyumi’s execution out of my head… I lie there for a while, trying to think of something, _anything_ else. The scene just repeats in my head, over and over.

_“It is now 10pm. As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then... Sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite...”_

I figured that would be coming soon. I keep my eyes closed and eventually manage to get some sleep.


	5. Chapter 1: Post-Trial Scenes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> post-trial scenes will be the only chapters not in Seiki's pov. gives me a chance to tell some of the story that she's not there for. these ones are pretty short but I have some stuff planned for later chapters.

After the trial, Takeshi and Matt take the elevator up to the second deck together. Walking through the dining hall, they notice Rio’s body still on the floor in the bar. They do their best to ignore it. Takeshi grabs two glasses of water from the kitchen and brings them out into the dining hall, where Matt sits and looks at the two new keys on the table.

“Ah, the talent room keys. Let’s see… looks like this one’s yours!” Takeshi holds up a key with a guitar symbol.

“Cool,” Matt says, taking the key and sipping his water.

“Do you wanna go check it out? I wonder what kind of stuff is in there,” Takeshi suggests. Matt nods in response and once they’re both done their water, they head down to the third deck.

Matt unlocks the door with the guitar symbol and the two enter the room. It has a dark red and black colour scheme, several guitars hanging on one wall and some high quality sound equipment set up. Matt immediately walks over to the guitars and grabs one, setting it up with the speakers.

“Hold on, lemme go get my camera.” Takeshi rushes out of the room, presumably into his talent room, and comes back momentarily with a camera. It isn’t unusual for Takeshi to take photos of Matt while he plays, so he snaps a few pictures of him in action.

After a while of jamming and photo taking, the two sit down on some chairs at one side of the room.

“I don’t… like this place. Two people are dead already, it’s terrifying…” Takeshi looks down and sighs before looking at Matt again. “Do you think there’s any way out other than… killing someone? Or any way we could both make it out alive?

“It’s gotta stop after a while. If it gets to like one or two people left after a murder, how would the trial even work? I’m sure there’s some limit that we’ll reach,” Matt says.

“You’re right… we should try and make it ‘til then. It’ll be hard to watch everyone else dying, but we can make it, right? We can get out of here together… we have to.” Takeshi looks like he’s about to cry.

With nothing else to say, Matt hugs Takeshi. The hug lasts a short while before being interrupted by the nighttime announcement.

“Ah, I didn’t realize it was that late already…” Takeshi pulls back from the hug. He still looks sad.

“If you don’t wanna be alone you can stay in my cabin for the night. Like a sleepover,” Matt suggests.

Takeshi beams at the suggestion. “That sounds great, thank you.” The two leave the guitarist’s room and take the elevator up to their cabins.

…

Hitomi and Fumie go up to the first deck immediately after the trial. At first, they each make their way into their own cabins, and it’s not until about an hour after the nighttime announcement that Fumie exits her room and knocks on Hitomi’s door.

“Hitomi, you up?” Fumie knocks again, to which the door opens.

“Fumie… hey.” Hitomi looks tired.

“Did I wake you up? Sorry, couldn’t sleep.” Fumie makes her way into the room, mostly uninvited.

“Um… no, I couldn’t sleep either.” Hitomi closes the door and walks to where Fumie sits on her bed, sitting next to her.

Fumie’s expression changes to a serious one. She’s silent for a moment before speaking.

“Asami’s really… gone, huh…” She’s looking forward at the floor, sadness in her tone.

Hitomi puts her hand on Fumie’s shoulder to comfort her. “It’s hard to believe… I was close with Aki, but for you it was your own twin sister…”

“Hey, no. Don’t belittle your own loss just because mine might be objectively worse. We both lost someone important to us without even getting to say goodbye. This whole thing sucks ass, I don’t wanna fuckin’ be here anymore. I don’t even know what to do if I get back home though, if Asami’s…” She trails off.

Unsure what else to say, Hitomi reaches out and hugs Fumie. They both start crying into each others’ shoulders, appreciating the comfort the other provides.

After a while, Fumie pulls back from the hug. “Thanks, for that. Glad to have a friend here that understands what I’m going through, even if it is super fucked up that we both have to deal with this.” She gives a weak smile and offers Hitomi a fistbump. Hitomi lightly fistbumps, weakly smiling back at her.

“I’m gonna go try and get some sleep again. Hope you can as well. Night, Hitomi,” Fumie says as she stands up and walks towards the door.

“Night, Fumie.” Once she’s left, Hitomi goes back to bed.

…

The mastermind sits at a desk in front of a wall of monitors, watching the view of different rooms around the ship. They kick their feet up onto the desk, holding a plush Monokuma and a bag of chips.

“Hmm… no one’s doing anything _interesting_ ,” The mastermind sighs, spinning around in their chair and leaving the chips and plush behind as they stand up. They walk towards a golden life-sized statue of a young woman with huge pigtails in the center of the room.

“Oh, Junko, things are only just starting and I’m already having so much fun! I wonder who will kill next…”

They turn back to face the screens, grinning and focusing on the ones displaying different students heading to bed.


	6. Chapter 2: Day 1

_"Good morning, everyone! It is now 7am and nighttime is officially over! Time to rise and shine! Get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day!"_

I did not sleep well. Yesterday was… awful, to say the least. The memories of seeing Rio and Chiyumi die flood my head. Trying not to dwell on it for too long, I head down the elevator for breakfast.

“Fuck yeah! My talent room key!” I enter the dining hall to see Fumie grab something, presumably her key off the table. She then sits down and grabs a toaster waffle off of a huge stack on a plate on the table.

“Seiki!! I made breakfast!!” Ayao waves at me. I can hear a hint of sadness in her voice, making it apparent that she’s still mourning the loss of Rio, but she’s holding up alright. Remembering that, I glance over at the bar to see that the crime scene has been cleaned up overnight.

“Oh, thank you Ayao.” I sit down and grab a plate, putting a couple waffles on it. Mizuki, Shōhei, Takeshi, Matt, and Ko are already at the table as well, eating.

“Fumie! We should check out your talent room after breakfast!” Mizuki suggests. I can tell she’s trying hard to put out positive energy, but there’s still a gloomy feeling across the whole ship because of yesterday.

Fumie nods while chewing her waffle. We eat in silence for a moment.

“Um… Seiki! How did you sleep?” Ayao decides to start a conversation.

“Not very well, to be honest… but I did manage to get some sleep,” I respond. “What about you?”

“Pretty much the same…” She takes another bite of waffle, pondering what to say next.

After another moment of eating in silence, Fumie and Mizuki get up to bring their plates to the kitchen. I finish up my breakfast and follow them.

“Oh, Seiki! You wanna come with us to see Fumie’s talent room?” Mizuki invites me along.

“Sure,” I agree, having no other plans for the day.

The three of us make our way down to the third deck and Fumie unlocks her talent room. It’s about the same size as Ko’s and Chiyumi’s, and has a light purple colour scheme. There’s a couple keyboards hooked up to some high quality sound equipment.

Fumie heads right over to one of the keyboards and switches it on, playing a little tune. “Hell yeah!”

I walk to one side of the room that has a rack of CDs. I pick one up to look at the cover. There’s Fumie, dressed in a cutesy idol-esque outfit. Next to her is a girl that looks very similar to her with teal and pink hair, and two other girls, all in matching outfits. Sure enough, it’s an album by the group ‘B.A.B.Y.’.

Mizuki looks over at me. “What’d you find there, Seiki?”

“Um…” I’m aware that the girl who looks similar to Fumie is likely her sister. “There’s some CDs here…”

Fumie walks over and grabs the CD from my hands. Her smile fades as she looks at it.

“What’s wrong?” Mizuki approaches us and takes a look at the CD cover. “Hey, Fumie, that’s you! This your band?”

“Asami…” She grips the CD case tight, unintentionally breaking the plastic. She drops it on the floor and steps back.

“Do you need anything?” I offer, hoping that I can help her in some way.

“No, I… I just need a moment.” She turns around, pausing for a second before walking back to the keyboard she was at. She begins to play a soft and emotional melody. Mizuki and I watch, amazed by her talent.

Partway through, Hitomi peeks her head in the door to listen as well. When Fumie’s finished, all three of us clap. She smiles at us.

“That was amazing, Fumie,” I compliment.

“Fuck yeah it was, they don’t call me Ultimate Keyboardist for nothing.” I’m glad to see her smiling again.

“Woo! Go Fumie! Your talent rules!” Mizuki claps the hardest of us all, cheering her on.

Hitomi steps into the room. “I hope you don’t mind me coming in to listen, it sounded beautiful from outside…”

“Nah, it’s fine! I’d love to perform for the others sometime too!”

“That’d be awesome! That emo kid was Ultimate Guitarist or somethin’, right? What if you two did something together?” Mizuki suggests.

“Oh fuck yeah! Sounds fun! I’ll have to talk to him later.” Fumie makes her way back to the keyboard. “Wanna hear some more?”

Hitomi and I nod while Mizuki shouts, “Yeah!!” We listen to her play for a while. After some time has passed, I notice that I’m starting to get hungry.

“Hey, wanna go get lunch?” Mizuki suggests, as if reading my mind.

“Fuck yeah! Munch munch it’s time for lunch,” Fumie says. The four of us leave Fumie’s talent room and take the elevator to the second deck.

In the kitchen, we each make ourselves a sandwich. We sit in the dining hall with our plates, and begin to eat.

“Mizuki, you haven’t said much about your talent yet! What do you like about volleyball? What position do you play?” Fumie starts up a conversation between bites.

Mizuki takes a moment to chew and swallow her huge bite before responding. “It’s fun! I usually play libero, but I’m good at most positions!” She takes another large bite of her sandwich.

“What made you get into volleyball?” Hitomi asks.

“My older brother Tadami joined when some friends convinced him. I’ve always kinda looked up to him, so I tried it out myself in middle school! What really kept me at it though was the Third Gym Squad. When my brother was a second year in high school, him and some friends from nearby schools formed a practice group together and always met in the third gym of one of the other schools. Sometimes I’d tag along to practice, and then I properly joined it myself in high school! Now I’m one of the leaders!” She grins as she tells us her story, but her smile fades quickly. “I hope I can get back to them, they’re my best friends and I miss ‘em a lot.”

“I’m sure you’ll be able to see them again. We’ll have to find a way to get the rest of us out together…” I doubt my own words, but I wish for them to inspire hope in the others.

Fumie finishes her sandwich and stands up to bring her plate to the kitchen. Hitomi and I are finished as well, but Mizuki still has a few bites left, since she made a very large sandwich.

“You guys go on ahead, I’ll catch up with you in a minute here.” She takes another bite of her sandwich, and the three of us go to the kitchen.

“You guys want some water?” Fumie offers as she grabs herself a glass.

“Yes please,” Hitomi replies.

“That’d be great, thanks. Maybe get a glass for Mizuki as well,” I suggest.

“On it!” Fumie pulls four cups down from the shelf and fills them all up with water.

[TRIGGER WARNING] (skip past the next line if you don’t want any spoilers, but please read if you want to be prepared for any potentially triggering content.)  
 _smashing a plate over someone’s head, being knocked out_

Just as we’re about to head back out, we hear some yelling coming from the dining hall. Not wanting to interrupt anything, I peek my head out the door.

“Athletics are nothing compared to a game of intellect such as chess!” Sachiko is arguing with Mizuki, who stands in front of her, holding a now empty plate.

“Hold on a sec now, I was just saying that-” Mizuki is interrupted by Sachiko grabbing the plate out of her hands and smashing it over her head. She’s knocked out cold.

“HEY!! What the fuck was that for!?” Fumie pushes past me and stomps up to Sachiko, who glares at her before turning around and leaving.

“COME BACK HERE!! What the fuck is your problem!?” Fumie yells after her, but doesn’t make much of an effort to chase her down. Hitomi and I approach Mizuki on the floor to check on her.

“Oh god, there’s blood…” Hitomi looks away from Mizuki. I crouch down to check her pulse.

“She’s alive. And breathing. We should get her down to the nurse’s office,” I suggest.

“I can’t fucking stand her…” Fumie mutters as she walks back towards us. “Let’s carry her down. Hey, Hitomi, you got that thing about blood, right? How about you carry her legs so you don’t have to see as much of it?”

Hitomi nods and makes her way to the other side of Mizuki, mostly ignoring her head. She’s fairly heavy but the three of us manage to get her onto the elevator and down to the nurse’s office.

The nurse’s office is fairly simple. There are a couple of beds and chairs, and some simple first-aid equipment. Nothing strong enough to save a life.

Fumie and I clean off some of the blood on Mizuki’s head and bandage up the wound while Hitomi sits nearby.

“Sorry I’m not much help, I just… _really_ don’t like seeing open wounds…” Hitomi looks apologetic.

“It’s okay. If it makes you uncomfortable to see then it’s fair to avoid it,” I say, finishing up wrapping the bandage around Mizuki’s head.

“I’m still pissed at that blue haired bitch. What the hell is her problem, anyways? Mizuki’s so nice, she doesn’t deserve this!” Fumie leans against a wall near where Hitomi is sitting and crosses her arms.

“This is her second plate related offense, too…” I comment, facing the two.

“We need to put a stop to her plate crimes,” Fumie says. “I’m gonna find her tomorrow and try a different approach, since yelling hasn’t worked so far.”

“Good luck with that…” Hitomi doesn’t look convinced anything will work.

The three of us hang out there for a while, watching over the knocked out Mizuki. A couple hours later, I’m feeling hungry again.

“I’m gonna go get some dinner,” I say, getting up to leave.

“I wanna go back to my talent room and fuckin’ jam! Seeya guys later.” Fumie gets out the door before me.

“I think I’ll stay here for now, that way if Mizuki wakes up, I can explain what happened and help her.” Hitomi gets up to move her chair next to the bed Mizuki is lying on.

“Alright, I’ll see you later.” With that, I go back to the elevator and up to the second deck.

In the dining hall, Takeshi, Matt, and Ayao are eating mac and cheese. Takeshi is holding an expensive looking digital camera and showing Ayao something on the screen.

“Whoa!! Matt, you look so cool in that picture!!” Ayao exclaims, pointing at the screen. I walk to the table and stand facing them.

“Hi, Seiki. We made mac and cheese, do you want some?” Takeshi offers.

“Sure, thanks.” I pop into the kitchen to grab a bowl and a fork before dishing up some food and sitting down near the others.

“Seiki!! Look at Takeshi’s photography!! It’s so cool!!” Ayao shoves Takeshi’s hands holding the camera across the table to me. Takeshi adjusts his position so that I can see the screen on the camera. The photo displayed is an expertly framed low angle shot of Matt playing the guitar. Even on the tiny screen I can see the passion Matt’s putting into his performance.

“Wow, that’s really good, Takeshi!” I take a bite of my food after looking at the photo.

“Ah, thanks… I took that in Matt’s talent room last night, he got his key after the trial…” He pulls the camera back away and turns it off so he can eat his own dinner.

“Where did you get that camera? Was it in your talent room?” I recall his was one of the first three keys to be given out.

“Yes, it was. It’s the same one from back home. It even has my memory card, so I’ve got old photos on there too,” Takeshi explains.

“What else is in your talent room? I don’t think I’ve been there yet,” I question. What would be in the talent room of an Ultimate Paparazzi…

“Oh, there’s not much… there were a couple other cameras, but I’m used to this one, so it’s my favourite. There was some stuff for writing articles… nothing all that interesting…” He sounds like he’s either not impressed by the talent room he was given, or has something he’s not telling me. I decide not to push him on it, as I have no real reason to at the moment.

“Anyways, didn’t you see how Matt looked in that photo? He was so into the music, I’m happy with how well I captured that. You should really hear him play sometime, it’s even better than the photos.” It’s almost as if hearts appear in Takeshi’s eyes as he talks about Matt.

Matt doesn’t say a word in response, seemingly used to this kind of thing from Takeshi. He just sits there, eating his mac and cheese.

“Um… sure, if he doesn’t mind,” I agree, before turning to look at Matt. “Maybe tomorrow I can come check out your talent room.”

“Sure,” Matt nods before going back to his meal.

After dinner, I go back up to my cabin for the night. My lack of sleep the previous night really hits me, and I flop down onto my bed. It doesn’t take long for me to doze off.

A while later, I distantly hear the nighttime announcement. It’s not enough to wake me up fully, though, and I drift back off to sleep.


	7. Chapter 2: Day 2

_"Good morning, everyone! It is now 7am and nighttime is officially over! Time to rise and shine! Get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day!"_

I’ve had enough of that announcement. Something tells me I’ll have to put up with it for a lot longer… I don’t want to get up yet, so I turn over and drift back off to sleep for a little while.

After about two hours, I wake up again and get up for the day. I go down to the second deck by myself and grab a bowl of cereal, eating in the dining hall.

When I’m eating in peace, one of the last people I’d want to see enters the room.

“Good morning, Seiki,” Rei greets, sitting directly across from me.

“Morning,” I respond, to be polite.

“I thought I wasn’t spending enough time with the others on the ship, so I’m here to bond, or create trust, or whatever. Don’t wanna be too suspicious in the upcoming trials, you know. Have you been making friends with the others here?” He pulls out the chair next to him and puts his legs up on it.

I don’t like the way he talks. “Making friends isn’t about manipulating others into trusting you. I’ve been spending time with people as to not be lonely, and gained their trust as a result of that.” I take a bite of my cereal and hope for him to leave soon.

“Alright. So what do you think the next motive’s gonna be?” Rei brushes off what I said and brings up a new topic.

“What?” I look at him in confusion. I hadn’t really considered the next motive, and I don’t really want to…

“Maybe it’ll be videos of what’s going on back home, rather than audios like the last one. Or maybe it’ll be something simple and selfish, like if you kill and get away with it, you get ten million dollars.” He starts listing off potential motives like it’s nothing. “Ooh, what if it’s a disease that some of us get, giving us a fever and making us act different? Like a despair disease…”

“I don’t care what the next motive is. No one else is gonna kill,” I respond, not fully believing my own words. I just want this conversation to be over…

“You know that’s not true. You thought no one would kill before, but look what Chiyumi did. It’s just a matter of time before it happens again…” He gets up, pushing in neither of the chairs he sat on, and thankfully, leaves.

I sigh and finish up my cereal before bringing my bowl back to the kitchen. I remember Takeshi inviting me to see Matt play the guitar, so I head down to the third deck to see if they’re in his talent room.

In the hallway, I hear guitar coming from Matt’s talent room. I peek my head in to see Takeshi and Ayao sitting down, watching him play. Takeshi has his camera out and is taking photos, and Ayao notices me by the door.

“Seiki!!” She shouts over the music, waving me inside. I walk in and take a seat next to the two. Matt pauses playing.

“Hi, Seiki,” He greets me.

“Seiki, you came! You must’ve heard him a little outside the door, isn’t he amazing?” Takeshi lowers his camera to talk to me.

“Yeah, it sounded great. To be expected of an ultimate student,” I respond.

Matt gets back to playing and the three of us watch him. He’s really talented, playing the kind of stuff you’d hear in super complex guitar solos with little effort.

A short while passes and Fumie sticks her head in the door. “Hey guys!” She strolls in and Matt pauses his playing once again.

“Matt, right?” She walks up to him. ”Your talent is fuckin’ awesome! I’m the Ultimate Keyboardist, we should try playing together sometime!”

“Oh, sure. Sounds fun,” He replies with a slight smile.

“Hell yeah!” After getting the response she wanted, Fumie turns around and approaches me.

“Hey Seiki, wanna go check on Mizuki in the nurse’s office? Hitomi said she’s doin’ better.”

“Oh, sure.” I get up from my seat and face the others in the room. “See you later.”

“Byebye Seiki!!” Ayao waves at me. Matt and Takeshi wave as well, less enthusiastic than Ayao.

Fumie and I take the elevator down to the fourth deck and walk to the nurse’s office. When we get there, Mizuki is sitting up in her bed and Hitomi is sitting on the side of the bed, leaning close and talking to her.

“Fumie! Seiki! Hi!” Mizuki leans over to see past Hitomi and waves at us. Hitomi jumps back in shock, scooting away from Mizuki and looking at us. I notice she’s blushing.

“Hey, did we interrupt something?” Fumie asks in a teasing tone, grinning as we walk towards them.

“Not at all! Hitomi and I were just talking about… stuff,” Mizuki replies.

“Sure.” Fumie hops onto the other side of the bed from Hitomi and I stand at the foot of the bed.

“Are you feeling better, Mizuki?” I ask.

“Yeah, Hitomi told me about what happened. I just don’t get that Sachiko girl, why’d she get so mad? I was just trying to understand what makes chess so special.”

“I found her earlier,” Fumie says. “Tried talking to her more calmly, which is hard when she’s so fuckin’ annoying. She seemed to get that knocking over Chiyumi’s cupcakes was a shitty thing to do, but kept defending herself about knocking you out. Said you insulted her talent or some shit.”

“I said chess seemed kinda boring, but I didn’t mean it in a bad way…” Mizuki scratches her head. “I dunno what to do about her. Guess I’ll just try to avoid her for now.”

“That’s fair,” I say.

“Hey, Seiki,” Mizuki addresses me. “What about your talent? You’re the only one here I haven’t heard much from about it. What kind of detective work d’you do?”

“Oh… I mentioned it during the class trial, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t believe me. I can’t remember anything from the past five years, besides what my talent is. I know I’m a good detective, but I can’t remember any examples of that.”

“Right, right. I definitely believe you! Just didn’t remember ‘til now,” Mizuki reassures me.

“Damn, that sucks, I wanna know what kind of cool detective stories you have! If you get any memories of them back, lemme know,” Fumie requests.

“I will.” I take a seat on the bed next to Hitomi and the four of us stay there for a while, talking.

“I’m hungry,” Mizuki says after an hour or so. I check the clock to see it’s getting around dinner time.

“We could go get you some food, if you’re not feeling up to walking around,” I suggest.

“Lemme try standing up,” Mizuki says as she pushes the blankets out of the way. She manages to get up. “Whoo, feelin’ a lil dizzy…” She steadies herself and takes a sip from a glass of water on the nightstand.

“Do you need help?” Hitomi stands up next to her and offers a hand.

“Nope! But I’ll take your hand!” Mizuki grabs Hitomi’s hand in her own and starts dragging her out of the room, clearly feeling much better. “Dinner, here we come!”

Fumie gives me a look that expresses, ‘they’re totally into each other,’ and I nod in agreement. We follow them out and the four of us take the elevator up to the second deck.

“Seiki! Fumie! Mizuki! Hitomi! Come here, Shōhei made soup!” Ayao waves at us from across the hangout area, before running back to the dining hall. We follow her to find nearly everyone sitting together, notably missing Sachiko, Rei, and Isao.

The four of us each grab a bowl and sit, thanking Shōhei for dinner.

“This is sooo good!” Mizuki exclaims once she tries the soup.

“Thank you, it’s my grandparents’ recipe. I made it all the time at home,” Shōhei responds.

“Tell your grandparents they made a recipe for really good soup!” Mizuki says.

“I will…” He looks down at his soup as if to silently add, ‘if I make it out alive.’

“Hey, I’ve been thinking,” Hirai addresses everyone at the table to start a conversation. “Someone’s behind this all, right? Someone kidnapped us, someone’s behind Monokuma, forcing us to kill each other… what if that person is one of us?”

“Huh?” Fumie sets down her spoon and leans over to look at Hirai.

“I just mean… what if the person behind this, the Mastermind, is disguising themselves as a student? Taking part in the game, to watch things more closely. Fooling everyone into trusting them, only to be the one behind it all.” Hirai shoves a spoonful of soup in his mouth after talking.

“The fuck are you talking about? There’s no way one of us is doing that shit.” Fumie doesn’t seem to consider it even for a second.

“Kan… Kan thinks Hirai could be right… but Kan doesn’t wanna suspect his friends…” The boy looks around the table at everyone.

Shōhei looks around the table suspiciously, and Hitomi and Ko look kind of scared.

“Hirai, I get what you’re saying but I think it’s useless to be suspecting each other for things like that at this point. I don’t deny that it’s possible, but suspecting each other will just push us further apart, which is what the supposed ‘Mastermind’ wants. Negative relationships plus another motive like the first one Monokuma introduced just makes it more likely that another murder will happen.” I hope that saying this helps the others stop worrying about this…

“Alright, I’ll stop. I can’t help but wonder, though…” Hirai goes back to his dinner and is silent for the rest of the meal.

Despite what I said, Hirai’s suggestion hangs over the room in a tense silence. One by one we finish each of our servings of soup and leave. I decide to go back down to the fourth deck and take a look at the pool again, since I didn’t spend much time there the first time.

Kan is crouched by the edge of the pool, dragging one of his hands through the water. I slowly approach him from behind.

“Kan?” He’s startled by my voice and falls into the pool with a splash.

“Kan--!” I rush over and grab his arms to help pull him out. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you…” Once he’s safe on the edge of the pool, I rush over to the side where there’s some towels on a rack and grab one for him. I quickly walk back over to him and hand him the towel.

“Kan thanks you…” He wraps the towel around his shoulders and takes a couple steps past me to sit on a lounger style chair.

“You’re welcome,” I respond, making my way to sit on the chair next to his.

“Kan thinks… Seiki’s really cool, for trying to help us stay together. Kan doesn’t like what Hirai said, but he’s worried…” The boy shivers and pulls the towel close around himself.

“It’ll be okay, Kan. …Do you want to change into some dry clothes?”

“Kan would like that,” He responds, nodding.

I lead him out of the pool area and we take the elevator up to the first deck. He goes into his cabin and changes, opening the door again when he’s done.

“Kan feels better now,” He says.

“That’s good. I’m sorry again for startling you, it didn’t look fun to fall into the pool…” I feel bad for catching him off guard.

“It’s ok! Kan forgives you!” He smiles at me. “Do… does Seiki want to spend time with Kan?”

“Sure,” I agree, having nothing else planned for the evening. I follow him into his cabin and sit on the bed. There’s an orange and blue colour scheme, but besides that, it’s identical to my own.

“Kan… Kan thinks Seiki reminds him of his sister, Kayo.”

“Is that so? What’s your sister like?”

“She’s really smart, and mature, and she’s always nice to Kan. She always sticks up for what she thinks is right,” Kan explains with an admiring tone.

“She sounds great, I’m flattered to be compared to her.” I smile at him.

“Mhm!” He nods at me. “Kan meant it as a compliment!”

I pause for a moment before asking something I’ve been curious about. “Kan… is there any particular reason you speak in third person?”

“Mmm… Kan doesn’t think so. He’s just been doing it for so long he’s used to it by now… it’d be weird to stop.”

“That makes sense. I think it’s an interesting way to talk, but I’m used to talking in the first person.”

Kan nods. “That’s good! Differences make things better!”

“You’re right. Without differences, things would be pretty boring.”

The room goes silent for a moment, and I decide to bring up another topic of conversation. “You’re the Ultimate Dog Groomer, right? Do you mind telling me a little about your talent?”

“Kan… really loves dogs!! Kan and Kayo have had dogs at home for a long time, and Kan always took care of them the most! He got really good at giving them baths n’ trimming their fur, so he got a part-time job as a dog groomer!! Then, Kan got a letter from Hope’s Peak Academy because he was so good at looking after dogs!!” He explains his past and how he got his title with lots of enthusiasm.

“That’s really cool! I like dogs as well. How many do you have at home?”

“Two right now!! Kan loves them both a lot!! He misses them too…” His expression changes to a slightly sadder one.

“Did your sister ever help with the dogs? If she did, I’m sure she’s looking after them for you until you can get back,” I try my best to reassure him.

He nods and leans over to give me a hug. I accept it, patting him on the head a little. His hair is still a bit damp, but it’s soft.

_“It is now 10pm. As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then... Sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite...”_

I didn’t realize how much time had passed since dinner. I pull away from the hug and stand up.

“I’m going back to my cabin for the night. You sleep well, okay?”

“Okay! Kan hopes Seiki sleeps well too!”

“I’ll try. See you tomorrow,” I say, walking out the door.

Back in my cabin, I change into pajamas and flop onto the bed. I enjoyed spending time with Kan, he’s like the little brother I never had. Slowly, I drift off to sleep once again.


	8. Chapter 2: Day 3 + 4

_"Good morning, everyone! It is now 7am and nighttime is officially over! Time to rise and shine! Get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day! Also, today your next motive will be introduced! You must all meet in the theatre by 7:30am."_

Another motive… all of Rei’s suggestions from the previous morning come to mind, but I brush them off. I hope it’s not as bad as the first one, whatever it is…

I get dressed and leave my room, heading onto the elevator at the same time as Isao and Shōhei.

“Good morning, Seiki,” Isao greets.

“Morning,” I reply. Shōhei presses the button for the second deck and we head down, walking into the theatre together.

We enter the theatre to see a couple others looking down at the seats as if they were all looking for something. The projection screen on the stage is pulled down and displaying the message, ‘Find your envelope and sit in that seat! Don’t open it until I’ve explained the motive! -Monokuma’.

I walk through the rows of seats until I find the envelope labelled ‘Seiki Hoshino’. I pick it up and sit down without opening it, waiting for everyone else to arrive.

Once everyone’s in their seats, the projection shuts off and the screen rolls back up to reveal Monokuma standing behind it.

“Good morning, everyone! Are you ready to hear the next motive?” He doesn’t pause to hear any responses before continuing.

“This one’s called, ‘Deepest Secrets and Greatest Fears’! Inside those envelopes that each of you hold is a letter stating your deepest secret, along with your greatest fear! Tomorrow morning, if no one has killed, we’ll have another class assembly at the same time as today’s, and they’ll all be revealed to everyone! Attendance, as always, will be mandatory-- that is, if the assembly even needs to take place. You have 24 hours to prevent your secrets and fears from being put out into the open, so get killing! Upupupu!!” He disappears before anyone can talk to him.

“What the hell kind of stalker kidnapped us? How would they know this shit?” Fumie says while opening her envelope. Her eyes widen as she reads the letter inside. “Oh damn,” is her only reaction, and she gets up and leaves.

A couple other people start leaving as well, some not opening their letters yet. I decide to wait until I’m on my own to open mine, unsure if I’d even remember the things listed for me.

Takeshi opens his letter, his eyes widening as well. “Ah, oh no… I need, I need to leave,” he mutters, shoving the letter back into his envelope before quickly getting up. “I just… need to think for a while. I’m not gonna kill anyone, you guys can trust me…” He makes his way out of the theatre. Matt watches after him but doesn’t follow, before reading his own. He doesn’t have much of a visible reaction, and leaves on his own shortly after.

“No, no…” Isao folds up his letter and places it back into the envelope, walking out of the room. Shōhei follows after him without reading his own.

I walk out of the theatre without reading my letter to find Fumie and Matt talking to each other in the general hangout.

“Hey, wanna go practice some music together? Get our minds off this motive,” Fumie suggests. “Mine’s nothin’ to kill for, but not something I’d wanna share, so I’d like a distraction.”

“Sure,” Matt nods. I walk over to them.

“Do you mind if I join you? I haven’t read mine yet and I’m not sure if I will, I’d just like to stick with other people for now with the motive going on.”

“Sure,” Matt repeats.

“Hell yeah! You can listen to us jam!” Fumie enthusiastically leads us to the elevator, where Ko and Ayao are already standing inside, ready to go to the third deck.

“Hey, we’re gonna practice some music, you two wanna watch?” Fumie invites them along as well.

“Yeah!! That sounds fun!!” Ayao yells.

Ko nods before digging through the inside of their hoodie before pulling a small notebook out of their pocket and scribbling down a message. They hold it out for us to read. ‘I forgot my whiteboard but this will do, I’m kind of scared with the motive going on so I was gonna practice archery but it might be better to stay with others.’

Just as I finish reading their message, the elevator reaches the third deck. We step out and walk to the keyboardist’s room, Matt stopping at his talent room to grab a guitar on the way.

In Fumie’s talent room, Matt hooks up a guitar to the sound equipment while Ayao, Ko, and I sit down at the side of the room.

“What kinda music you play?” Fumie asks Matt, turning on a keyboard.

“Songs with guitar in them,” Matt responds.

“Well duh,” Fumie laughs. “Here, lemme…” She turns on a metronome on the keyboard she’s standing at. “I’ll get some chords goin’ and you can join in whenever.”

She starts by setting up a simple chord progression for the first few bars, before adding a melody that follows it. A few more bars in, Matt joins, mimicking the melody on his guitar. The two talented musicians quickly pick up on where each other are going with the music, and they create a beautiful sound.

After some time, I notice Takeshi standing at the door, gazing at Matt. He has that heart eyes expression that he usually does when looking at Matt, but he looks worried. I can tell he’s still thinking about whatever was on his motive letter. Without coming into the room, he leaves when the two stop playing.

“Hell fuckin’ yeah, that was awesome!” Fumie raises her hand towards Matt, who high fives her.

Ayao claps excitedly. “You guys sounded really good!!”

Ko and I both applaud as well.

“We should practice something and perform in the theatre for everyone,” Fumie suggests.

“Sure,” Matt agrees. He sets down his guitar for a moment and approaches Ko.

“Hey. Can I talk to you?”

Ko nods in response and they walk off to the side together, near the door. Matt talks quietly so I can’t quite hear what he says. Keeping an eye on the two, I deduce that Matt needed paper for something, since Ko hands him a sheet torn out of their notebook, as well as their pencil to borrow.

While they’re off to the side, Fumie approaches Ayao and I.

“You guys sounded so good!! Music talents are so cool!” Ayao compliments, full of energy as usual.

“Fuck yeah they are!! I love performing,” Fumie replies. “I think I’m gonna head out, find Hitomi and Mizuki. I wanna make sure they’re doing alright. These motives make things fuckin’ scary around here…”

“Alright, stay safe,” I say.

“I will. Seeya guys later!” She skips off out of the room.

After talking to Ko, Matt turns back to the rest of us. “I’m gonna go play Rock Band,” he says before leaving as well.

Ko writes a message while walking back over to us. ‘I’d like to practice archery now, do you two mind coming with me? I’d rather not be alone.’

“Sure, I’ll come,” I agree.

“Yeah!! I wanna see your cool archery skills!!” Ayao hops up out of her seat and the three of us make our way to the archery room on this deck. Out in the hallway, I notice Sachiko walking towards the elevator. I wonder what she was doing here…

In the archery room, Ayao and I sit off to the side while Ko grabs a bow and arrow. They get right into the flow of archery, hitting several bullseyes with little effort. It seems to be a good stress-reliever for them.

I stick my hand in my pocket, curiously taking the motive letter out. Ko is focused on archery, and Ayao is watching them intently… I decide to open the envelope.

The sheet of paper inside is fairly small, folded once. I hesitantly unfold it to read what it says.

_SEIKI HOSHINO_   
_Your deepest secret is that you’ve killed many people._

“Wh…” I barely voice my confusion, and luckily, neither of the others notice.

What does it mean I’ve killed many people? Is this… is this what I can’t remember from the past five years? I look at the letter again to read the last line.

_Your greatest fear is remembering the past five years of your life._

Well, maybe now it is… I can’t comprehend what I’ve just read. Could it be… a lie? Maybe the Mastermind is aware that I’m missing years of memory, and is messing with me by giving a fake secret that would horrify me. I can’t think of a scenario where I would kill someone, let alone many people…

I shake my head and decide to believe that it’s a lie for now. I shove the letter back into the envelope, putting it in my pocket.

“Ko!! Can you teach me how?” Ayao stands up and walks to the side of the room, picking up one of the other bows.

Ko smiles and nods in response, walking over to Ayao and leading her to where they were standing. They help position Ayao’s arms, and write a couple short messages in their notebook to explain things. I watch them teach her, and she shoots, missing the target completely.

“Oops! Guess that’s why I’m not the Ultimate Archer!” Ayao laughs and grabs another arrow to try again.

The two practice for a while longer as I stay sitting and watching them. A long time goes by and my mind wanders between thoughts of the motive, what my motive letter means, and how I’ll handle everyone being suspicious of me after mine gets revealed tomorrow. I can only hope that no one’s secret is enough to make them kill to keep it hidden…

“I want snacks!” Ayao says, bringing her bow back to the table at the side of the room. Ko follows, putting away their bow and arrows as well.

“There’s some snacks at the café. I could go for a cup of tea,” I say, standing up.

“Let’s go!!” Ayao leads us out of the room and we take the elevator down to the fifth deck.

Hirai is sitting alone at the café when we get there. He waves at us as we enter.

“Hey Seiki, Ayao, Ko. I just made some tea, there’s some over there if you want it.” He points over to the counter.

“Oh, thanks.” I walk over and pour myself a cup while Ayao and Ko raid the counter for snacks.

I sit at the same table as Hirai, and Ayao and Ko join us shortly. Ko pulls out their notebook on the table so they’re ready to contribute to any conversation that starts.

“Did you guys read your motive letters?” Hirai asks.

“Nope! I threw mine away,” Ayao says. “I don’t wanna know what it says. Whatever it is, I’ll deal with it when it’s revealed!”

Ko scribbles down an answer and slides their notebook over for us to read. ‘I read mine, and it’s not something I want people knowing, but I’m not gonna kill for it. I’m just worried about losing people’s trust when it’s revealed.’

“That’s similar for mine,” I respond. “With the memories I lost, I can’t even tell if what it says is true… I’m not considering killing anyone over it, but I can’t say I’m not worried about the outcome.”

“I read mine right when we got them,” Hirai says. “Isn’t it kinda weird how they know so much about us?”

Ko nods and quickly jots down another note for us to read. ‘It’s terrifying.’

“I’m sure we’ll get to the bottom of this and find out why the Mastermind is doing all this eventually. We might have to lose a couple more people along the way, but if we stick together I know we can figure it out.” I can’t bring myself to blindly hope that no one else will die, but I want to reassure the others in some way.

“I don’t wanna lose anyone else, this place sucks…” Ayao pouts, shoving a cookie into her mouth.

“I’ll have to agree with you on that one,” Hirai says before taking a sip of his tea.

We sit there and chat for a while longer, my mind still preoccupied by the motive. If I continue to hope that no one else kills, then I’ll have to find a way to convince everyone else that I’m not lying about losing my memories. Some of them already believe me, but some I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to convince… especially Rei.

_“It is now 10pm. As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then... Sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite...”_

Today went by pretty quickly. I finish my tea and get ready to leave. Ayao holds the elevator door open while waiting for the three of us to join her, and then we all head up to the first deck.

“Goodnight!!” Ayao waves before skipping off to her cabin.

“Goodnight,” I address everyone in the group, walking to my own.

I manage to get to sleep pretty quickly, but I still have a feeling of dread. I wonder if anyone else has died by this point…

…

_"Good morning, everyone! It is now 7am and nighttime is officially over! Time to rise and shine! Get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day!"_

No mention of an assembly… I hope that doesn’t mean anything. I quickly get dressed before heading down to the second deck. When I get there, several people are in the hangout area while Shōhei walks out of the theatre.

“Monokuma isn’t in there,” he says to me.

“Then that means…” I trail off in dread. He knows exactly what I’m implying.

“Probably.”

[TRIGGER WARNING] (skip past the next line if you don’t want any spoilers, but please read if you want to be prepared for any potentially triggering content.)  
 _vomiting, bleeding from the head, blunt force trauma_

I turn around and begin to search on my own. There’s nothing suspicious on the second deck, so I head down to the third, checking all unlocked talent rooms. Takeshi’s door doesn’t budge… I guess he likes to keep his locked.

Just as I’m heading onto the elevator to check the fourth deck, I hear it.

_ding dong dong ding “A body has been discovered! After a certain amount of time, which you may use however you like, the class trial will begin!"_

The elevator opens to the fourth deck and I see Hitomi running out of the indoor garden to throw up in a nearby trash can. I guess that tells me where the body is… I hesitantly approach to see it, peeking past Fumie and Mizuki. On the floor of the indoor garden, right next to a row of planters, someone lies lifeless, their head resting in a pool of their own blood.

Matt Williams, the Ultimate Guitarist, is dead.

Even for me, the sight is a little nauseating. I take a step back and see a worried Takeshi rush off of the elevator and through the crowd.

“Matt-- MATT!!!” He rushes over and throws himself over Matt’s body.

“Holy shit, we gotta help him-- someone help me take him to the nurse’s office, he’s injured!! The announcement has to be about someone else, he’s not dead, there’s no way he’s-” His words break off into sobs. “He can’t be dead… I need to help him…”

“Well look at that, you lost your boyfriend.” Rei somehow got in the room and smirks at Takeshi, who ignores him and cries over Matt’s body. Rei starts investigating the room, pushing past Takeshi to look at Matt’s body.

“Get- get off of him,” Takeshi says through sobs, not making any physical effort to stop Rei.

“Ooh, what’s this-” Rei takes a piece of paper out of Matt’s hoodie pocket and reads it. “Interesting…”

Takeshi grabs it out of his hand, reading it as well. He doesn’t say a word, but whatever it said made him sob harder. He manages to get away from the corpse and leans against a wall nearby, letting other people examine the body.

While all that’s going on, I check my Monopad to see the Monokuma file.

_Monokuma File 02_   
_Victim: Matt Williams_   
_Time of death: 9:43pm_   
_Cause of death: blunt force trauma_

So it happened last night… I was at the café with Ayao, Ko, and Hirai, and didn’t leave at all this time, so I have an alibi. So do the other three.

Once the room has cleared a little, I step back inside and take a look at Matt’s body. I can see the spot on his head where he was struck with something. Near his hand, I see a couple flowers that look similar to the ones he’s close to. Was he picking them…?

I approach Takeshi and crouch down next to where he’s sitting.

“Hey. Can I read that piece of paper that Rei found?” I ask, hoping that he’ll let me. I understand this is a huge loss for him, but I want to conduct a thorough investigation.

He slightly nods and holds it out for me to see, not letting go of it.

_Takeshi,_   
_You’ve done a lot of nice things for me. Here are some flowers as a thank you._   
_\- Matt_

“Thanks,” I say to let him know that I finished reading it. He nods and holds it close to his chest.

So those flowers were for Takeshi… that paper looked like the kind in Ko’s notebook. That must be what he asked them for yesterday.

I leave the room and try to think of where else to investigate. I find Ko and Hitomi communicating in sign language in the hallway. I approach them and Ko waves at me.

“Hi, Ko. I wanted to ask you about yesterday, when Matt asked you for something. I saw you give him a piece of paper from your notebook. Did he say anything else?”

Ko signs to Hitomi for a moment, who translates for me. “Ko says that… Matt asked for a piece of paper from their notebook, and to borrow their pencil. They asked why he needed that, and he said he wanted to write a note for Takeshi. He seemed concerned about his reaction to the motive. He mentioned he was gonna give him flowers from the garden, and asked if that was too much, to which Ko said they thought it was good.”

I nod in understanding, starting to put the pieces together. “Thanks,” I say before leaving, considering my options of where else to search.

Some kind of detective’s intuition tells me to search the first deck, so I wander through, peeking into different people’s cabins. For the most part, they all look the same, just with different colour schemes for each person. I’m about to leave Isao’s when I notice something.

I walk inside to take a closer look at something peeking out from underneath Isao’s bed. It looks like a handle… I grab it and pull, to find a large shovel. There’s blood on the head of the shovel. Could this be the murder weapon…?

_"Erm, so ah... I'm getting tired of waiting. What say we just get started, hm? It's time for the long-awaited... Class trial! Now then, please go down to the sixth deck now available on the elevator! Puhuhu. See you soon!"_

Once again, my investigation is cut off by the trial announcement. Did I really find everything…? In any case, I leave the shovel where it was and walk out into the hallway, making my way onto the elevator. Just like the first time, it stops at each deck to gather everyone, and brings us down to the trial room.


	9. Chapter 2: Class Trial

All thirteen of us exit the elevator and walk into the trial room. I make my way to my podium, in the same spot as last time. I notice two more photo frames held up on stands just like Rio’s in the spots that Chiyumi and Matt stood during the first class trial. It’s hard to believe all three of them are gone… but we have no choice but to continue. We need to find out who killed Matt.

Monokuma appears on the chair at one side of the circle.

“You all remember how this goes, right? Your votes determine the results. Figure out ‘whodunnit,’ or you’ll all be punished and the blackened will graduate! Now, get discussing the evidence, and I’ll let you know when it’s time to vote!”

“Whoever did this…” Takeshi is the first to speak. “Whoever killed Matt… you’ll pay.”

No one speaks for a moment, so I start up the discussion. “We should start with alibis. Where was everyone last night, at the time of the murder?”

“I was off bonding with people,” Rei answers first. “Creating trust, and all that. I was playing Uno in the games room with Fumie, Mizuki, Hitomi, and Kan.”

“He might not be the nicest guy, but he’s fun to play with,” Mizuki says, confirming that she was there.

Kan nods in agreement before speaking. “Kan won three rounds!”

“We were at the café! Me, Ko, Hirai, and Seiki! I can confirm it was none of us,” Ayao says.

“I was in my room again, but that’s irrelevant. I know who did it,” Sachiko joins the conversation. “It was Isao.”

“Me?” Isao gasps dramatically.

“Yes, you. I found a shovel in your room with blood on it, you clearly used it to hit Matt over the head. And I saw your reaction to your motive letter, it’s obvious you had something to hide. You killed Matt to keep your secret,” Sachiko accuses.

“Hold on a second,” Shōhei interrupts. “Isao was with me at the time of the murder.”

“Indeed I was, we were in the theatre. Shōhei was showing me some of his beautiful dancing,” Isao confirms.

I’m hesitant to trust Sachiko, but I ask about it anyways. “Did you leave at all during that time?”

“Just once, to get Shōhei a glass of water…” Isao seems worried about the gap in his alibi.

“He was only gone for a minute, there’s absolutely no way he could’ve taken the elevator down, killed Matt, came back up, and gotten me water all in that time. It was barely long enough to get me the water,” Shōhei explains, defending Isao.

“Yes, I made sure to bring it quickly because you looked tired out from dancing!” Isao confirms.

“I think it’s unlikely to be Isao, then, but we can’t rule out the possibility completely,” I say. “Is there anyone else without an alibi?”

“I…” Takeshi speaks, and I notice he’s holding Matt’s glasses. I guess he took them off the corpse before getting on the elevator. “Matt… I saw him last night. Around 9… I wanted to go to bed early, and we parted ways. He was comforting me about the motive, saying that no matter what my secret was he’d still be my friend…” Tears begin to flow down his face again.

“I think Takeshi did it,” Rei interjects.

“WHAT!?” Takeshi bursts out, leaning over his podium to look at Rei.

“He trusted you. I think you lured him to the indoor garden, hit him with a shovel, placed the note and the flowers to make it seem like he was doing something nice for you, and then stashed the shovel under Isao’s bed to push the blame onto him. Then you overreacted when we found the corpse to make us think it’d be impossible for you to be the culprit. Plus, you reacted even more intensely than Isao did when you read your motive letter,” Rei explains his theory. “Seiki, you’re the Ultimate Detective. What do you think?”

“It’s plausible… but I doubt it,” I say, trusting Takeshi more than Rei at this point.

“There’s no way I could-- what the fuck are you implying!? He was my best friend, even _more_ than that-- I could never even _think_ about hurting him…” Takeshi defends himself against Rei’s accusations.

“Is that so? Those are some pretty good acting skills, if I do say so myself.” Rei smirks, enjoying the way he’s bothering Takeshi with his words.

Takeshi glares at him, tears in his eyes.

“I’ve read a lot of books with murder cases in them…” Hitomi speaks up. “This kind of thing happens a lot, in fiction at least. It’s hard to tell when someone’s lying about a close emotional connection, just to clear their name.” She avoids looking at Takeshi while she speaks.

“Why-- why are you suspecting ME!? I could never, I would never…” Takeshi breaks down in sobs.

“Takeshi…” I speak calmly. “I don’t want to suspect you. I want to trust you. Do you have anything that could prove your innocence, any evidence to clear your name?”

Takeshi grasps at something in his pocket. His tears have stopped, but the look of fear in his eyes remains. He avoids looking at anyone in the room.

“I do…” It’s almost as if I can hear his heart beating from here. He pulls something out of his pocket. It looks to be the envelope containing his motive letter.

“Your motive letter? How the hell’s that gonna prove you’re not lying?” Rei questions.

Takeshi ignores him and grips the letter in his hand. “I… didn’t want my secret to be revealed… I guess the main person I didn’t want to know was Matt… but my fear… that’s what proves my innocence. Take one look at my greatest fear and you’ll know why I could never have killed Matt.” He holds out the letter to me.

I open the letter, reading it out loud. “Takeshi Ueda. Your deepest secret is that you’re the Ultimate Stalker and you’ve been stalking Matt Williams since the day you met him… Your greatest fear is losing Matt Williams.”

“Stalker? That’s creepy. But I guess you’re right, so long as those fears are legit, you wouldn’t bring your greatest fear to life just to hide your secret. You’d choose a different target,” Rei admits. “I was wrong, you’re not the killer.”

“S-stalker… Kan thinks that sounds scary…” The boy looks away from Takeshi.

“Paparazzi… Stalker… I suppose that makes some sense…” Shōhei says.

“I still think Takeshi’s cool!” Ayao smiles brightly at Takeshi. “I mean, Matt was like your best friend! I’m sure he wouldn’t mind!”

“And I was talking about how the Mastermind must be a stalker if they know all this shit about us,” Fumie adds. “You better not be the fuckin’ Mastermind, Takeshi.”

“I-I’m not, the only person important to me is Matt…” Takeshi clutches the glasses over his chest.

“The only person you stalked, you mean?” Rei looks at Takeshi.

“I… don’t like using that word… but yes.” Takeshi avoids eye contact. “Anyways, you can all see that I’m not guilty now. I was… I was planning to get it under control and tell him myself… I got scared when the motive was revealed. I’m sorry if I acted suspicious. But I won’t forgive whoever did this to him, and I wanna help find out who that is.” He faces the circle with more confidence than before.

“Alright. Let’s get back on focus,” I say. I’m not the most comfortable with the whole ‘Ultimate Stalker’ thing, but at least we have more information to lower down the suspects.

“Did anyone else in groups leave for any time during the evening?” I ask.

  
“Kan remembers… Rei went to the bathroom, Kan thinks it was 9:40?”

“Good memory,” Rei comments. “Yes, I went to the bathroom at 9:40. I wasn’t back ‘til after Matt was dead. But once again, I had no reason to commit murder. I don’t mind this ship, and I didn’t even read my motive letter.”

“You can’t prove that you didn’t read your letter,” I say, having had enough of him.

“The bathroom is a pretty good excuse for hiding the shovel under Isao’s bed. They’re on the same deck, after all,” Sachiko accuses.

“Oh, that’s right! It completely slipped my mind, but Sachiko- I saw _you_ walking out of Isao’s room last night!” Rei overacts, making me doubt that he just now remembered it.

“What!?” Sachiko snaps in response, glaring at him.

“I thought it was some sort of forbidden love affair between the chess player and the magician, but if Isao was down in the theatre with Shōhei then I guess that’s not the case,” Rei continues.

“Sachiko and I?” Isao looks surprised. “She’s beautiful, of course, as most women are-- but I can’t say I have any compliments for her personality…”

“Fuck off! As if I’d be into _him_ ,” Sachiko looks disgusted.

“What’s wrong with Isao? I think he’s… really nice,” Shōhei defends, blushing a little.

“I don’t think this is the time to be discussing whether Isao is romantically desirable. We need to find out who killed Matt,” I redirect the conversation.

“Was it you, Sachiko?” Takeshi glares directly at her, his words filled with rage.

“Of course not! It was Isao, the murder weapon was found in his room!” Sachiko defends herself.

“Why would Isao bring the murder weapon back to his room if it’s covered in blood and likely to be found there?” Hirai makes a good point.

“Because he’s-- I don’t know, he’s not that smart!” Sachiko’s defenses are getting weaker, but she stands by her point.

“Well now you’re just offending me,” Isao frowns.

“Hirai is right, it looks more like someone was trying to frame him. Sachiko, out of everyone missing an alibi, besides maybe Isao, you had the strongest motive to kill. I don’t know about your secret or fear, but I know you’ve hated this place since we got here. A motive like this would be a good opportunity to pin the crime on someone afraid of their secret being revealed,” I explain.

“Just because I wanted to leave doesn’t mean I killed him! Aren’t you listening to me!? It was Isao!!” Sachiko is not giving up her case.

Ko waves over to Hitomi, getting her attention before signing a message to her. She translates aloud, “Ko says they remember seeing you when they left Fumie’s talent room, Sachiko. They think you could’ve overheard Matt’s side of the conversation they had by the door, and known where he would be that evening.”

“I didn’t hear anything! I was probably just walking by, minding my own business. How is that suspicious!?” She’s getting defensive.

“Sachiko, I swear if you killed Matt…” If looks could kill, there’d be another body discovery announcement right now and Takeshi would be the blackened.

“I DIDN’T FUCKING KILL ANYONE!! ARE ANY OF YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME?!” She seems too defensive to be completely innocent…

“Whoa there, Sachiko. Angry yelling doesn’t make you look so innocent,” Rei says.

“Yeesh, I thought I didn’t like you before…” Fumie comments.

“I think that’s enough to confirm it’s her,” Hirai concludes.

“I think we should take a look at this case from start to finish,” I say.

“It started the moment the motive was introduced. The culprit had been looking for another opportunity to use a motive to frame someone, after missing their chance on the first one. They paid close attention to different reactions to the motive, before selecting their target to frame.  
Later in the day, the culprit eavesdropped on Matt’s conversation with Ko in Fumie's talent room, finding out that he would be in the indoor garden later that day. They set off to finalize their plan and wait for him to show up. They were seen walking away from the keyboardist's room, so we know they were there.  
That evening, when Matt was picking flowers, the killer snuck up behind him with a shovel and smacked him in the back of the head, hard enough to kill him. With no one around, they snuck onto the elevator with the murder weapon, ensuring that no one saw.  
They took the elevator to the first deck and stashed the shovel under Isao’s bed. Unbeknownst to them, Rei was just coming out of the bathroom as they were leaving Isao’s room. They had already been caught, whether Rei realized what he was witnessing or not.  
The culprit of this crime, the person who killed Matt, is none other than… Sachiko Osaki, the Ultimate Chess Player.”

“SHUT UP, ALL OF YOU! I DIDN’T FUCKING DO IT!” Her face is full of rage as she faces everyone.

“Puhuhuhu! Looks like you’re ready to vote! Now then, use the lever in front of you to make your selection! Who will be chosen as the blackened?” Monokuma cuts in, informing us it’s time to vote. Without a doubt, I select Sachiko as Matt’s killer.

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!!” Sachiko quickly selects a vote, presumably for Isao rather than herself.

When everyone’s votes are in, the same small slot machine as last time pops up from the floor. The pictures of our faces spin before all three land on Sachiko.

“Look at that! You guys got it right again! Good job! The blackened in this case, the one who killed Matt Williams, is none other than Sachiko Osaki!”

“Fine, you got what you fucking wanted. It was me, alright? I killed Matt, I hope you’re fucking happy,” Sachiko says, defeated.

“FUCK YOU!! WHAT THE _FUCK_ IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?” With confirmation on who Matt’s killer was, Takeshi leans over his podium to shout at Sachiko, angry tears running down his face.

“I _HATE_ YOU!! I’LL NEVER FUCKING FORGIVE YOU, HOW DARE YOU TAKE AWAY THE ONLY PERSON WHO EVER TRULY MATTERED TO ME?!? YOU DESERVE EVERY LAST SECOND OF WHATEVER FUCKED UP PUNISHMENT MONOKUMA GIVES YOU!!! YOU DESERVE TO DIE!! YOU’RE AN AWFUL EXCUSE FOR A HUMAN BEING!!!” He seems out of breath after yelling so much.

“Whoa there. I think you made a mistake killing the Ultimate Stalker’s obsession, Sachiko,” Rei comments.

“Fuck off, I don’t care. As much as I hate it, my plan failed, so let’s just fucking get this over with.” Sachiko crosses her arms, glaring at everyone.

“I fucking hate you,” Takeshi says, voice much weaker after his outburst. Sachiko doesn’t seem to care at all.

“Puhuhu, what a fun reaction! But if you’re done, I suppose it’s time for punishment!”

“Just get me out of here,” Sachiko snaps, now glaring at Monokuma.

“I’ve prepared a very special punishment for Sachiko Osaki, the Ultimate Chess Player!”

“Get her out of my fucking sight,” Takeshi says, looking at the floor rather than Monokuma or Sachiko.

“Let’s give it everything we’ve got! It’s… PUNISHMENT TIIIME!!” A bright red button appears in front of Monokuma, and he swings a gavol down to hit it.

[TRIGGER WARNING] (skip past the next line if you don’t want any spoilers, but please read if you want to be prepared for any potentially triggering content.)  
 _cutting fingers on tiny blades, restricted breathing and movements, hanging_

_64 SQUARES OF MADNESS_

_Sachiko is seated on a chair in a dark room, a chess board illuminated in front of her. Monokuma sits opposite to her, and makes the first move. Sachiko smirks, fully convinced that she can handle this. They play the first few moves before a thin rope wraps around Sachiko’s ankle. She notices and tries to pull it off, but it only gets tighter. She decides to ignore it and go back to the game at hand._

_Shortly after, another rope wraps around her other ankle. She does her best to still ignore it, but the pain is clearly a distraction. She’s not playing as well as she normally does. Between turns, tiny knives jet out of the chess pieces, but Sachiko is too distracted by the pain to notice and cuts her fingers on the piece she moves. She winces in pain and picks up the piece more carefully on her next turn._

_Over time, more and more ropes wrap around her body. First around her waist, then chest, making it hard for her to breathe. The next ropes wrap around her shoulders and upper arms, making it harder for her to take her turns. The ropes are squeezing her tight and she can’t pick up the chess pieces carefully enough to avoid cutting herself, but she still tries to continue playing._

_Due to her lack of focus, Sachiko is losing horribly to Monokuma, and is visibly frustrated. Bleeding from her fingers and hardly able to move, Sachiko makes a beginner’s mistake and leads Monokuma into an easy victory. He stands up on his chair and does a victory dance while angry tears run down Sachiko’s face._

_She attempts to stand up and fails, falling back into the chair, frustrated. One final rope tied into a noose swings down from above and loops around her neck, swiftly pulling her up into the air. She grabs at it with cut and bloody fingers, but it’s no use, and she chokes to death. Her body hangs there, lifeless, barely visible from the dim lighting in the room._

_Sachiko Osaki, the Ultimate Chess Player, is dead._

Just like the first one, it’s horrible to watch but I can’t look away. Sure, I didn’t like her all that much, but she didn’t deserve to die like that…

“She deserved that,” Takeshi states an opinion differing from my own, his voice coated in rage.

“I don’t know which was more fun to watch, you going off at her or the execution!” Rei smiles as if he’s comparing two totally normal things to enjoy.

Takeshi ignores him and quickly makes his way to the elevator, being the first to leave.

“Kan… Kan wants to go home…” I turn to see the boy facing the execution zone, shaking and crying. I approach him.

“Kan, let’s go get some water.” He nods and we take the next elevator up, a few others joining us.

We get off on the second deck, and I notice through the huge windows that the sun is setting outside. Did the trial take up that much of the day…?

As we pass through the dining hall, I notice two new keys. One has a symbol of a book, and the other has a symbol of a pawn chess piece.

“Sachiko… Kan thinks this key would’ve been for Sachiko,” he says, pointing at the second key.

“Yeah…” I try not to dwell on it, and we make our way into the kitchen.

Kan hops up to sit on the counter while I get two glasses of water, handing one to him.

“Kan thanks you!!” He smiles at me and takes a sip.

“You’re welcome.” I hop onto the counter as well to sit next to him.

“Does Seiki think… that Kan will get to go home?” He sounds worried.

“Yes,” I say, not certain of my response but wanting to reassure him more than anything. “I’m sure you can make it out of this alive, and I’ll do my best to as well.”

Kan nods and drinks his water in silence. I realize that I haven’t eaten all day, and hop off the counter to grab a bowl.

“Do you want some cereal?” I offer to Kan.

“Yes please!” He nods excitedly.

I pour two bowls of cereal and we sit there on the counter, eating in silence. I appreciate the moment, watching the sunset through a small window in the kitchen.

_“It is now 10pm. As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then... Sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite...”_

“Kan is tired…” He puts his empty bowl down beside himself and hops off the counter.

“Let’s head back to the cabins,” I say, hopping down as well and putting our bowls in the dishwasher. We leave together.

After taking the elevator up to the first deck, Kan gives me a hug.

“Goodnight, Seiki,” he says.

“Goodnight, Kan.” I let go of the hug and we part ways for the night.

I change into my pajamas and get into bed, thanking the calm moment I had with Kan for allowing me to fall asleep fairly quickly.


	10. Chapter 2: Post-Trial Scenes

Takeshi is the first to leave the trial. He immediately takes the elevator to the fourth deck on his own, running back into the indoor garden, relieved to see Matt’s body still there.

“Matt…” He kneels down next to the body, tears forming in his eyes once again.

“I never thought I’d have to see you like this… it’s hard to believe you’re gone. I don’t think I’ve fully accepted it by this point… I’ll never forgive Sachiko for what she did to you, even if she’s gone now too. You didn’t deserve this…” He takes a shaky breath and wipes his tears on his sleeve.

“Your body, it’ll be taken tonight… and then I’ll never see you again… I don’t think I can handle the thought of that. You’re the only person who’s ever brought me happiness, I can’t even remember a time in my life before I met you… I don’t know what to do without you, you gave my life meaning…” He reaches over to brush Matt’s hair out of his face, before adjusting his fringe to be over his eye like he always had it. “I need to… do something… I’ll be right back.”

Takeshi takes the elevator up to the third deck, entering his talent room to grab his camera. As he’s leaving to head back down, a thought pops into his head, and he takes the elevator to the second deck.

Hearing sounds in the kitchen, he uses the stealth skills he developed over the years of stalking Matt, and sneaks just out of their sight to grab a kitchen knife and a glass tupperware container. He makes it out of the kitchen unnoticed, and takes the elevator back down to the fourth deck.

[TRIGGER WARNING] (skip past the next line if you don’t want any spoilers, but please read if you want to be prepared for any potentially triggering content.)  
 _cutting open a human chest, cutting a heart out, breaking ribs, corpse smooch_

Back in the indoor garden, Takeshi kneels back down next to Matt’s corpse and sets the knife and container on the floor next to him. He lifts his camera and takes a photo of Matt’s lifeless body.

“The last time I get to see you, captured… even if it’s painful to see you like this, I couldn’t let myself miss my last chance to take a photo of you.” He puts the camera down on the floor behind him and picks up the knife. “I’m so sorry to do this to you, but I need to…”

Takeshi leans over Matt’s body, knife in hand. He starts by slicing through his t-shirt, exposing his chest. His own heart beating fast, Takeshi presses the knife down into Matt’s skin, slicing his chest open right around where his heart is. There’s a lot of blood, making Takeshi a little queasy, but he continues.

Once a good section of Matt’s chest has been cut open, Takeshi can see it- his heart. He tries to reach in and grab it, but Matt’s ribs are very clearly in the way. Takeshi can’t find any way to reach around and grab it, so in frustration, he swings the knife down hard onto Matt’s ribs, breaking two of them.

“I’m so sorry…” Tears form in his eyes again at the thought of having hurt Matt, despite him being dead already. He takes a deep breath and goes back in with the knife, cutting carefully at everything the heart is connected to. Once it’s mostly loose, he reaches his hand through the gap the broken ribs left, and yanks the heart out of Matt’s chest.

Hands and clothes covered in blood, Takeshi sets the knife down on the floor next to Matt’s body and puts the heart in the container he brought before closing the lid. He looks back at Matt’s body, with his chest all cut open and destroyed.

“I’m so sorry for doing this to you…” Takeshi reaches over and zips Matt’s hoodie up over the open wound.

“At least now I’ll always have your heart.”

The nighttime announcement plays as he gazes over Matt’s corpse, looking more peaceful with what Takeshi did covered up. He leans close over the body, looking at Matt’s lifeless face.

“I love you more than I've ever loved anything… Goodbye.” He kisses Matt’s cold, dead lips, before hesitantly getting up. He takes the flowers that Matt held, the knife, the container, and his camera, and leaves the room.

At the elevator, he wipes his hands off on his shirt as to not leave blood on the buttons. He’ll deal with these clothes later. He goes back to his talent room first, putting away the camera.

His talent room has green walls and white furniture. There’s not much besides a table and chairs at one side with some cameras and notebooks, and a large wardrobe with a lock on it in the center of the back wall. Takeshi sets everything he’s holding down onto the table before walking over and unlocking the wardrobe.

He looks over his collection in the wardrobe. Photos of Matt line the inner walls, hundreds of them showcasing him doing various activities - playing guitar, playing Rock Band, eating, walking, doing homework, sleeping, and more. Most of the photos were very clearly taken without his knowledge. A collection of photos of Matt and Takeshi together form the shape of a heart in the center of the back wall. Besides that, many items fill the shelves of the wardrobe - an old hoodie of Matt’s, a lost earring, a couple music CDs that seem like the kind of thing Matt would listen to, a collection of about 20 empty cans of Matt’s favourite energy drink, two guitar picks, the hair dye packaging from the first time Matt dyed his hair red, a sheet of paper torn from a journal with Matt’s writing on it detailing a crush on Takeshi, and a stack of five notebooks each labelled with a year on the front, starting with the year that Matt moved to Japan.

After gazing over his collection, he moves some items off to the sides of the shelf in the center, making room to add to his collection. He walks back over to the table to grab the flowers, the knife, and the container with Matt’s heart in it. He places them carefully on the shelf.

Tears begin to flow down his cheeks again as he closes up the wardrobe, locking it once more. He leaves the room, locking it as well, and takes the elevator back to the first deck.

He goes to the bathroom first, taking a shower to wash off all the blood. He stops by his own cabin to change into a set of pajamas, leaving the bloody clothes at the foot of his bed. After that he makes his way into Matt’s cabin, burying himself in the red blankets of Matt’s bed, and crying himself to sleep.

…

The Mastermind watches Takeshi’s movements closely over the screens at their desk. They’re leaning over to get the best view possible.

“Well that’s interesting… I knew it’d be fun to get an Ultimate Stalker in here, but I didn’t think he’d do _that_!” The Mastermind grins as they observe the most entertaining thing they’ve seen so far besides the murders.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is like all Takeshi but I had a lot planned for him this chapter lmao


	11. Chapter 3: Day 1

_"Good morning, everyone! It is now 7am and nighttime is officially over! Time to rise and shine! Get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day!"_

No. I can’t keep going on like this… there has to be some way to stop these killings. We can’t just hope for the next motive to not work on anyone, whoever’s behind this clearly knows us well enough to come up with things that’ll drive one of us to murder.

I get dressed and leave my room, determined to start working on finding out why this is all happening. When I get to the second deck, it seems no one else is having breakfast at the moment, so I quickly eat a bagel on my own and leave.

I take the elevator to the fifth deck, intending to investigate each room a little closer. It’s the closest we can get to the sixth deck, which I have a feeling has more than just the trial room and execution zone.

As I’m making my way through each room, I peek into the arcade and see Takeshi holding onto the Rock Band pro guitar controller, the one that Matt played. He’s crying, and Ayao is next to him, doing her best to provide comfort. I decide to look around in there later, not wanting to interrupt that.

As I’m walking out to check out another room, Hirai gets off the elevator and approaches me.

“Hey, Seiki, I found this on the table in the dining hall.” He holds out the key that I noticed when I was with Kan last night, with the chess piece symbol. “Since Sachiko’s no longer… able to check it out, I was wondering if you wanted to go see her talent room with me.”

“Oh, sure,” I say. Any new part of the ship has potential for clues about what’s going on here…

We take the elevator up to the third deck and Hirai unlocks the door with the matching symbol. The room has pale yellow walls and fancy decor, a very expensive looking chess table with matching chairs in the center. I can’t help but think that if Sachiko had seen this room, she might have never killed…

“There doesn’t seem to be that much in here,” Hirai comments, approaching the chess table and picking up one of the pieces to look at it more closely.

“Yeah…” I take a look at a painting in a fancy frame on the wall. It looks like a normal expensive work of art, until I notice all the tiny painted people have Monokuma masks over their heads. A little odd… could it somehow be a clue about something?

“We should leave… it almost feels like Sachiko’s spirit is haunting this room,” Hirai says, making his way towards the door. I follow him out.

In the hallway, we’re greeted by Hitomi walking out of the room with a book symbol on the door. She starts walking towards the elevator, and I approach her.

“Hi, Hitomi. Is that your talent room?” I ask, pointing to the door she just came out of.

“Oh, hi Seiki, Hirai! Yes, it is. It’s really nice, there’s a lot of books in there, but not as much as the library… there’s a laptop with a writing program on it, though nothing else. It doesn’t have any of my stories on it from my laptop at home, but I’m able to write and save my works, so that’s nice…”

“That sounds great! Maybe my talent room would have something similar for my blog,” Hirai wonders aloud.

“Maybe,” Hitomi slightly smiles at Hirai. “Anyways, I’ve been in there since first thing this morning, I wanted to walk around for a bit… do you guys wanna do something together?”

“Sure! We could go play a board game in the games room,” Hirai suggests.

“I was planning to search the ship more for any clues on why we’re here… but I guess I could join for one game,” I say.

“Cool! Let’s go,” Hitomi says, leading us to the elevator.

Back on the fifth deck, we go to the games room where Hitomi and Hirai begin searching the shelves. I take a seat at one of the tables.

“Hmm… how about Clue?” Hirai pulls the box off the shelf. “I’m not sure we’d stand a chance against the Ultimate Detective, but it could be fun.”

“Sure,” Hitomi agrees, taking a seat at the table I chose while Hirai brings the box over. He opens the lid and we start setting up the board.

“I’ll be Professor Plum,” Hitomi says, selecting the purple piece.

“Which one do you want?” Hirai offers the game pieces to me.

“I’ll be… Mrs. White,” I say, accepting the white piece.

“Alright. I’ll be Miss Scarlet,” Hirai says, taking the red piece and putting the rest away. He shuffles the cards and places the three in the middle before dealing out the rest for our hands. After handing out the papers and pencils, he pushes the box off to the side and we begin.

We play several turns making different suggestions and lowering down the possibilities of the outcome. I pay close attention to everything mentioned and note down everything on my sheet. Eventually, on one of Hitomi’s turns, she makes an accusation.

“I think it was… Mrs. Peacock, in the Library, with the Rope.” She looks at the cards in the center of the board and frowns. “Dammit… looks like I lose,” she says in defeat, setting the cards back down.

On my next turn, I make an accusation as well. “Professor Plum in the Library with the Rope.” With confidence, I take a look at the cards and set them down to reveal that I win.

“Good job!” Hirai congratulates. “Though, Hitomi, wasn’t Mrs. Peacock ruled out from a suggestion earlier?”

“Oh, was she? I guess I forgot to note that down…” She looks at her sheet of paper.

“I think it was a suggestion you made, too,” I mention.

“Really? Oops…” She smiles sheepishly and scratches the back of her head.

“That was fun, we should play again sometime!” Hirai says as he starts to put away the cards.

“Yeah, maybe we can invite other people, too!” Hitomi helps him put the game away.

“I feel like I have an unfair advantage with my talent… but I did have fun,” I say, collecting the pieces to put them back in the box.

“I think I want to go to the library now,” Hitomi says while Hirai closes the box and brings the game back to the shelf.

“I’d like to take another look at the library, actually. I’ll come with you,” I say, standing from my seat.

“I’ll come along too. I don’t have much else to do right now,” Hirai walks back towards us before the three of us head out of the games room.

We take the elevator to the fourth deck and go to the library, where Ko is reading alone. Hitomi approaches them and starts a conversation in sign language, and I notice that Ko was reading one of Hitomi’s books. I make my way over to the computers and Hirai follows me.

I boot up a computer and look closely at the map. I notice something that wasn’t there before, looking on the second deck of the map. Over the bar, I notice a skull icon. I click it and an info box pops up.

_Rio Uchiyama_   
_First Victim_

I switch the view to the fourth deck, and see the same icon over the indoor garden.

_Matt Williams_   
_Second Victim_

“So the map keeps track of where people die…” Hirai is in the chair next to me, leaning over to see what I’m looking at.

“Yeah… or where the bodies are found,” I say.

“Hm?” Hirai looks at me.

“Since both bodies thus far have been found in the same spot they died, we can’t tell whether the icons on the map represent where these people died or just where we found their bodies. Even if we do find a body that’s been moved, we might not be able to tell that easily. But if there’s enough evidence to indicate that it’s been moved, then we can find out which these skull icons represent.”

“Smart thinking,” Hirai comments, looking back at the map. Besides those icons, nothing else has changed, so I shut down the computer.

“I think I need some coffee…” Hirai gets up from his chair. Hitomi doesn’t seem to have heard him, because she seems like the type to come running at the mention of coffee. I look over and it seems she’s very invested in her conversation with Ko, so I decide not to interrupt.

“I’d like some too,” I say, pushing my chair in. We leave and go to the café on this deck.

After we both get a cup of coffee, we sit down at the table nearest the large window displaying the ocean outside. I take a sip as I search the horizon for anything, but just like before, there’s no hint of land in sight.

“So, is it true that you can’t remember anything from before getting here?” Hirai asks, taking a sip of his own coffee.

“Yes. I know my name, talent, and that I’m sixteen years old, but any specific memories cut off right around when I was eleven.” I turn back to face him as I respond.

“That’s strange… it seems the rest of us remember up until getting here. I wonder why your memories are missing.” He takes another sip before speaking again. “I’d love to interview you about your talent for my blog, but a lot of my standard questions are about what you do with your talent and what earned you an ultimate title. I don’t suppose you remember any of that…”

“No, I don’t. I wish I did, I’d love to help with your blog.” I gaze out the window once again.

“Well I do have one question… it’s regarding the motives. So far, they’ve both been things about our lives… I guess what I’m asking is, for the first motive, you really don’t remember who Sawao Yasuda is? And for the second, do you remember anything about the secret or fear in your letter?”

“I vaguely recognize the name, so I can only assume they really were my best friend… I don’t have any memories of them, though. As for the letter from the last motive…” I pause for a moment, recalling exactly what it said. “I have no memory of that secret. The fear listed was… remembering the past five years of my life. If I wasn’t afraid of remembering before, I kind of am now…”

“Hmm… do you mind if I ask what the secret was? Of course you don’t have to share if you don’t want to, but I’m curious. You can trust me.”

I think for a moment before deciding to trust him with what my letter said. “The secret was… that I’ve killed many people.”

“What!?” Hirai looks shocked.

“I swear I have no memory of it. I was just as shocked reading it… I couldn’t imagine myself ever killing, let alone more than once. It makes me even more curious about my memories, but even more afraid at the same time…”

“That’s… insane… but I trust you. If you say you don’t remember, then I’ll believe you on that… and I’ll trust you not to kill anyone in here.” I look into Hirai’s eyes and I feel that he’s being honest.

“Thank you… it’s just strange that I don’t remember any of that. I considered the possibility of it being a lie, too, that the Mastermind printed on there to scare me about my lost memories. But it’s hard to tell if they’d do something like that, what kind of person they are…”

“Through Monokuma, I can tell the Mastermind really likes their rules. They wouldn’t break them by telling you a lie, so I think they took the worst part of the memories you lost and twisted them. Maybe something you did indirectly caused an accident that killed people, and they rephrased it in a way that made you seem worse than you are,” Hirai explains.

“That’s possible…” I look out the window again, deep in thought, as I finish my coffee.

Hirai stands up when he finishes his coffee. “I’m gonna go find something else to do. Wanna come with me?”

“I think I’d like to walk around for a bit on my own,” I respond.

“Alright. See you later, Seiki.” Hirai takes my empty cup along with his own back to the counter in the café before leaving.

I spend another moment gazing out the window before getting up myself and walking around the fifth deck. It seems Takeshi has left the arcade since this morning… he must be going through a lot right now. The whole stalker thing is creepy, but to suddenly lose the person you dedicated your life to… I’m glad Ayao is there for him.

I spend some time walking around before I end up on the second deck and decide to get some dinner. In the kitchen, Fumie is chopping up some vegetables.

“Hi, Fumie,” I greet as I approach her.

“Hey, Seiki! I’m makin’ a salad. I’m not all that good with food, but I know for a salad you just throw together some lettuce, veggies, and dressing… or something like that.” Fumie looks down at her vegetables. “This’ll work, right?”

“Yeah, it should. Here, let me help.” I get out a large bowl and help her prepare the salad.

“Fuck yeah! Salad complete! Let’s munch!” Fumie carries the salad out to the dining hall and I sit with her to eat.

“Seiki, I was talkin’ to Mizuki and Hitomi earlier and I’m gonna do kind of a concert thing tomorrow in the theatre around noon. Don’t know how soon the next motive’s happening, but I don’t think that should interrupt it,” Fumie says between bites of her salad.

“That sounds fun. I’ll definitely be there,” I respond.

“Yeah!” She pauses, deep in thought. “It… fuckin’ sucks that I can’t do it with Matt… practicing with him was really fun.”

I don’t know how to respond to that, so I stay quiet for the moment. I take another few bites of salad before Fumie speaks again.

“But hey! At least I can still use my talent to cheer people up! I’m not dead yet,” she jokes. “That’s kind of… a shitty thing to joke about in a place like this. Sorry.” Her smile fades and she looks down at her salad.

“It’s okay. I’m sure your show tomorrow will help brighten the mood, if only a little,” I reassure her before going back to eating.

Once we both finish eating, we bring our dishes back to the kitchen and put the rest of the salad away in one of the fridges for the others to have later.

“I’m gonna head back to my talent room to practice for tomorrow. Seeya!” Fumie leaves the kitchen as I wave goodbye. I make my way up to the first deck and retreat to my cabin for the night.

I change into my pajamas and sit on the bed, thinking about anything and everything I’ve seen since getting here. I can’t seem to come up with any clues on how to get out of here without killing… or recall any of my lost memories. I can’t help but wonder whether remembering would even help at all… I distracted myself for most of today, but maybe after Fumie’s concert I can investigate more of the ship again. There has to be something…

_“It is now 10pm. As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then... Sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite...”_

With that, I get up to switch off the light in my cabin before getting into bed and going to sleep.


	12. Chapter 3: Day 2

_"Good morning, everyone! It is now 7am and nighttime is officially over! Time to rise and shine! Get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day!"_

I’m sleeping rather heavily when the announcement wakes me up. I’m not awake enough to get up yet, so I drift off to sleep for a while longer.

When I do wake up, I drag myself out of bed and get dressed for the day. I check the time to see that it’s nearly 11:00… I’ve still got an hour until Fumie’s concert. I head down to the second deck to get something to eat.

As I enter the dining hall, Ayao struggles to open the kitchen door, holding a plate with a large stack of toaster waffles on it.

“Hi Seiki!! I’m bringing Takeshi some food!! I made too many, so if you want some- Ah--” The stack almost tips over and she manages to get through the door and balance herself. “You can have some!!”

“Oh, thank you, Ayao. Let me go get a plate,” I say, making my way past her and into the kitchen. I come back out and take a few off the top of the stack.

“Seeya later!! Gotta take these to Takeshi before Fumie’s concert!!” I wave goodbye and she looks like she’s about to attempt to wave before realizing that she can’t while holding the plate. She looks slightly disappointed, but turns around and leaves.

I take a seat at the table and eat my waffles alone. I can see across the general hangout, Mizuki and Hitomi are helping Fumie bring equipment from her talent room into the theatre for the performance. When I’m finished my meal, I sit in the general hangout where almost everyone else is waiting for the show.

“Attention everyone!” Fumie announces, standing by the entrance to the theatre. “It’s fuckin’ showtime! Get in there, my keyboard’s all set up and I’m ready to go!” She turns around and skips back into the theatre. The rest of us follow and take our seats.

It’s dark in the theatre, and Fumie’s not on the stage. I wait for a moment, wondering what’s going on, before I notice Hitomi and Mizuki seated next to the stage with some kind of equipment in front of them. They look backstage and presumably get some kind of ready signal from Fumie, because Hitomi reaches in front of herself and flicks a switch that turns on a stage light.

Fumie comes out from behind the curtains, her puffy skirt bouncing as she walks across the stage. Ayao is clapping and cheering loudly, myself and a few others joining in on the applause. Fumie seems to get pumped up by this as she makes her way to her keyboard and begins to play.

Her performance is full of energy and it sounds amazing. She’s a natural at being on stage, and her music sounds amazing. At a few points throughout the show the rest of us are clapping in time with the beat, and everyone’s having a good time. After a while, the show comes to an end. Fumie walks in front of her keyboard, standing in the center of the stage, and bows. The rest of us applaud and cheer.

Hitomi switches the main lights back on and Fumie hops off the stage.

“That was soooo cool!!!” Ayao exclaims, rushing up to give Fumie her compliments.

“Thank ya! That was fuckin’ fun!!” Fumie is smiling brightly.

I approach her as well. “That was amazing, Fumie. Thank you for putting on such a great show, it seemed to get everyone’s minds off of everything for a while.”

Her smile falters as she’s reminded of the reality of the situation. “Yeah… you’re welcome. I missed performing.” Her smile fades completely as she seems to think of something.

“Kan thinks that Fumie’s music was really pretty!” Kan walks up beside me.

“Ah, thank ya Kan!” Fumie’s smiling again after Kan’s compliment. She sighs before speaking again. “I’m all tired out now, I’m gonna go take a nap. Seeya guys later,” she waves at all of us before leaving.

“Bye!!” Ayao waves excitedly.

“Bye bye!” Kan waves less excitedly.

“Hey, Seiki!” Mizuki approaches me, Hitomi following behind her. “Hitomi’s gonna show me her talent room, you wanna come with?”

“Yes, I’d like that.” Another opportunity to check out a new part of the ship, though I doubt there would be any clues in a talent room. I follow the two out of the theatre and onto the elevator.

When we reach the third deck, Hitomi leads us into her talent room. The walls inside are a dark shade of magenta, with dark brown bookshelves against one wall. There’s a desk on the opposite side of the room, matching the bookshelves in colour, with a closed laptop and a comfy looking desk chair.

“It reminds me a lot of my office at home,” Hitomi comments.

“This place is kinda cool!” Mizuki says, looking at the bookshelves.

“Do you mind if I take a look on the computer?” I ask Hitomi.

“Not at all, go right ahead…” She answers. “There’s not much on there at the moment, but I’ve started working on a story that I hope to publish when we get out of here. It’s based on my experiences in this place, and all the people I’ve met, and those we’ve lost so far… I’d like to share their stories, if I can.”

“That sounds awesome!” Mizuki turns back to face Hitomi. “Can I read it?”

“Oh, it’s nowhere near finished yet, I’d rather not have anyone besides my e… my editor…” She trails off, a sad look of realization on her face.

“Oh, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to--” Mizuki rushes over to comfort Hitomi, and I make my way over to her laptop.

“I promise I won’t read anything you’ve saved on here, I just want to see if I can get any more information on the ship.”

“Okay…” Hitomi says, looking at me. Mizuki currently has an arm draped over her shoulder in comfort.

I turn on the computer, and there really isn't much on it. There’s a shortcut to a writing program on the desktop and a folder titled “Stories”. I assume this is where Hitomi saved what she was working on… I click through the files to see if I can find anything else, but that’s all there is. I shut the computer back off and get up.

I look over to where Hitomi and Mizuki are near the bookshelves. They’re talking quietly to each other… I decide not to interrupt them and make my way out of the room silently.

I take a deep breath in the third deck hallway to clear my mind and think of what to do next. I decide to go back down to the fifth floor and look through the arcade for any clues, since the last time I was on the fifth deck I skipped past it as to not bother Takeshi and Ayao. I take the elevator down and enter the arcade.

As I’m walking in, I hear music. It’s not the same as Rock Band music, plus I only knew two people who really played that… I walk to another corner of the arcade to find Shōhei and Isao in the middle of a song on Dance Dance Revolution. I decide to walk around and check out the rest of the arcade while they play. I’m still not finding anything out of the ordinary…

When they’re in between songs, Shōhei notices me. “Seiki,” he calls out. I approach them.

“Hello,” I greet.

“The beautiful Seiki arrives! Would you like to join us in playing DDR?” Isao asks.

“Um… I was just planning on looking around…” I don’t want to get too distracted, but I haven’t really been finding anything and it might be nice to get my mind off things.

“Come on, you should play a round. It’s fun,” Shōhei attempts to convince me.

“Alright, just one song.” I step onto the machine as Shōhei waits off to the side, and Isao selects a song for us to play. I choose easy difficulty to start.

I’m not very good, but it’s fun. Isao beats me this round, likely because he was just playing with Shōhei and has more experience than me. I stay on the machine for another round and Shōhei takes Isao’s place. I choose easy again and Shōhei beats me by a longshot. I wasn’t sure how well real life dancing abilities would translate into a game like this, but being the Ultimate Dancer is seeming to work in his favour. That or he’s just a lot better than me at this game.

I end up playing for a lot longer than originally anticipated, and it’s around dinner time when I realize how long we’ve been playing.

“I’m gonna go eat,” I say. “Would you two like to join me?”

Shōhei looks at Isao before looking back to me and responding. “I think we’ll get something to eat later together, you go on without us.” Isao nods in affirmation, smiling at me.

“Okay. See you two later, then.” I leave the arcade and take the elevator up to the second deck.

When I get to the dining hall, Takeshi and Ayao are eating some of the leftover salad Fumie and I made. Takeshi’s still in his pajamas and seems to be wearing one of Matt’s hoodies. I walk past them into the kitchen to grab some salad for myself before coming back out into the dining hall and approaching them.

“Is it alright if I sit with you?” I ask.

“Mhm!!” Ayao nods. Takeshi has no visible reaction, just taking a bite of his salad.

I sit down near them and begin to eat. I’m unsure what to say, so I don’t make any attempts at conversation. Ayao looks like she wants to talk and can’t stand staying quiet for this long, but she’s struggling to come up with something to say.

“Did you like Fumie’s concert?” I decide to start a conversation for Ayao’s sake.

“Yeah!! It was really good! But, um, Takeshi didn’t go because… he was tired, but I think he would’ve enjoyed it too!”

Takeshi doesn’t say anything. There’s a dead look in his eyes as he stares at the table, taking another bite of his salad. He really doesn’t seem like he’s doing very well…

“Um… Takeshi just needs a while! He misses his friend…” Ayao attempts to continue the conversation, but at the indirect mention of Matt, Takeshi shoves his fork into the nearly finished salad in front of him and stands up. He silently walks away and I turn to see him get on the elevator at the other side of the general hangout.

Ayao looks down at the table. “I think I said something wrong…”

“He’s grieving. For someone like him, I think it’ll take a lot longer than usual. Matt was really important to him… even if what Takeshi did was really creepy, I think it’s important that you’re here for him.” I take another bite of my salad as I consider what to say next. “Ayao, can you do something for me? Or rather, for Takeshi?”

“Mhm! Of course! What is it?”

“I think… you’re probably the person closest to him right now, so you’re the most likely to be able to help him. I don’t believe you fully understand what it means to be a stalker… Let me put it this way. If we get out of here, I want you to get Takeshi to go to therapy,” I explain.

“Therapy… oh! That’s a good idea! I think the therapy person… therapist? They could help him be less obsessed with Matt and be okay with his death!” Ayao seems excited.

“I doubt he’ll ever be okay with Matt’s death, but they’ll help him accept the fact that it happened and move on. If you care about Takeshi, I think that’s the best way that you can help him.”

“I do care about Takeshi! He’s my friend! I’ll get out of here, with him, and you, and everyone else, and Takeshi will go to therapy!”

“That’s the spirit,” I smile at her and take another bite of my salad.

After finishing my meal, I make my way back up to my cabin. I sit on the bed and take out my Monopad to poke around on it and see if there’s anything else I haven’t seen before. I check the map to see that it doesn’t have the skull icons that the one on the computers in the library had. I find a tab that has a record of past Monokuma files on it. There really isn’t much else… I put down the Monopad and relax on the bed for a while.

I start to get tired pretty quickly, so I get up and change into my pajamas, switching off the light. Just as I’m about to get into bed, the announcement plays.

_“It is now 10pm. As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then... Sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite...”_

“Good timing,” I quietly comment to myself before getting into bed.


	13. Chapter 3: Day 3 + 4

_"Good morning, everyone! It is now 7am and nighttime is officially over! Time to rise and shine! Get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day! And once again, I’m getting bored. You know the drill, motive will be announced in the theatre! Be there by 7:30am!”_

Seems like sleeping in isn’t an option today… I get dressed, wondering if this motive will give me any hints about my lost memories like the last two did. In the hallway, I see Ayao knocking on Takeshi’s door, presumably to make sure he gets up and comes to the theatre. I make my way onto the elevator with a few others, too tired to make conversation.

When we get to the theatre, I take a seat near the middle. I silently wait for everyone to arrive. As always, once the remaining survivors have all showed up, Monokuma appears on stage.

“Good morning, everyone! I hope you’re all excited to hear your next motive! This one’s a little different. Rather than directly threatening you or your loved ones, this one’s an offer for if you do happen to get away with murder! Rather than graduating on your own and getting out of here while the rest are punished, you get to choose one person to graduate with you! The others will still be punished, but the two of you will be able to leave! As to not let things take too long, I’ll set a two day time limit on this offer! If you kill within the next 48 hours, you can choose someone to graduate with you! If it’s longer than that, you’d only escape on your own! So get killing, upupupupu!!”

Like usual, he disappears before we have any chance to respond to him.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Takeshi stands up and looks at the stage, right where Monokuma stood. “You wait ‘til AFTER Matt’s dead to introduce a motive like this!? I thought the point was to get people to kill-- you, Mastermind, whoever you are, you know full well this would’ve worked on me, don’t you? Did you wait on purpose, just to frustrate me? Fuck you.” He turns around to face all of us. “Any of you, if you want to kill for this motive and can’t decide on a target… just kill me.” He then turns to the door and quickly leaves. Ayao follows him out.

After a brief moment of silence, Fumie says, “Yikes.”

Another brief silence follows before Hitomi stands up and speaks. “I’m gonna go get some coffee, would anyone like to come with me?”

“I’ll come,” Hirai replies, standing up.

“Me too!” Mizuki exclaims.

“I’d like some coffee as well,” I say, standing up and joining them as they begin to walk out of the theatre.

When we end up at the café, the group has grown to include Fumie and Shōhei. I sit there with my coffee, kind of zoned out and staring out the window.

“Seiki, you good?” Fumie asks.

“Oh- yeah, I’m alright.” I take a sip of my coffee.

“Anyways, I don’t think anyone’s gonna kill for this motive. It’s the least threatening of them all, we can just ignore it and move on,” Fumie says.

“We can only hope.” Hirai takes a sip of his coffee.

It’s fairly silent for a while and I finish my coffee before getting up to leave.

“I’m gonna hang out in my cabin for a while, see you guys later.”

“Bye, Seiki!” Hirai waves.

“Seeya, Seiki!” Fumie says.

I take the elevator up to the first deck and moments after I get into my cabin, I crash onto the bed and fall asleep. I didn’t realize how tired I was… but I guess this whole situation has been pretty tiring. Maybe during a motive isn’t the best time to nap on my own… but I can’t find the energy to get up, so I let myself doze off.

After some time, I begin to slowly wake up. I distantly hear the door of my cabin opening. I attempt to open my drowsy eyes, seeing a figure enter through the door.

Wait-- there’s a motive going on. I’m alone, someone’s here… what if they want to kill me!?

I quickly jump to a standing position, barely awake enough to do so. I have my arms up and ready to defend myself.

“Hey, chill out, it’s just me.” Fumie stands in front of me, her hands on her hips.

“Ah, hi Fumie…” I rub the sleep out of my eyes as I become aware of my surroundings. Fumie wouldn’t want to kill me… right?

“I was just comin’ to tell you that Kan made this fuckin’ amazing banana bread, you should come have some! Sorry if I scared you, hope you had a good nap.” She grins at me. Yeah, she doesn’t want to kill me. I’m safe at the moment.

“Oh, sure… that sounds good.” I follow her out of my cabin and we take the elevator down to the second deck.

In the dining hall, Kan’s eating banana bread with Hitomi, Mizuki, Hirai, and Ko.

“Seiki!! Kan made banana bread from a recipe he remembers from home!! Seiki should have some!” Kan waves to me as I walk over and take a seat at the table.

“That’s really nice of you, Kan. Thank you,” I say, accepting a slice of banana bread. I take a bite to find that Fumie was right, this is really good.

“This is delicious, Kan,” I compliment.

“Kan thanks you!!” He smiles brightly before taking another bite of his own banana bread.

Mizuki and Hirai are talking about their talents while Hitomi and Ko are communicating in sign language. Fumie takes a seat next to me and grabs another slice of banana bread.

“This is sooo fuckin’ good Kan, how are you so good at this?”

“Kan’s sister Kayo learned the recipe from mom, and Kan always helped baking it when he could! Kan helped so many times that he remembers the whole recipe!” He smiles, clearly proud of his memorization skills.

I finish my slice of banana bread and get up. “Thank you again, Kan.”

“You’re welcome!” Kan smiles at me once more.

I leave the dining hall to sit out in the general hangout. On the other end of the hangout, Shōhei and Isao are sitting together and talking about something that I can’t quite hear. I lie down on a couch, looking up at the high ceiling. There’s a lot to do on this boat, but I can’t think of where to go… plus the motive is on my mind, and I can’t help but worry about going places on my own. Where would I even want to go if I had someone to go with me…?

_“It is now 10pm. As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then... Sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite...”_

Is it really nighttime already? I stay where I am for a moment, watching people leave the dining hall and take the elevator presumably up to the first deck. Once nearly everyone has left, I get up and take the elevator on my own.

As I’m getting out of the elevator on the first deck, I notice Rei waiting to get on it. Where could he be going…?

“Good evening, Seiki.” He smiles at me before walking past me onto the elevator. I don’t respond, and just walk back to my cabin.

Despite how long I napped earlier, I manage to fall asleep pretty quickly. Though, there’s a bad feeling deep in my stomach… I’m sure I’m worrying for nothing.

…

_"Good morning, everyone! It is now 7am and nighttime is officially over! Time to rise and shine! Get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day!"_

After how much rest I got yesterday, I’m not all that tired getting up today. I get dressed and head down to the second deck for breakfast.

As I walk into the dining hall, I notice something that makes my stomach drop.

“Talent room keys…” There’s two of them. I walk up to the table and look closer at them. One has an animal paw, presumably for the Ultimate Dog Groomer, and one has a volleyball, for the Ultimate Volleyball Player.

“Then that means…” I drop the keys as I realize what must’ve happened.

“Seiki, are you alright?” Shōhei walks up beside me before he notices the keys I was looking at.

“Two talent room keys… don’t those only show up after someone’s… oh.” Shōhei’s eyes widen when he realizes what this means.

“Two people…?” Apparently Isao had also walked in at the same time as Shōhei.

“Seems like it,” I respond. My heart is beating fast… but I know what we have to do.

“I guess we need to look…” Shōhei says.

“Yeah,” I agree. The three of us leave the keys behind and hesitantly start on our search.

[TRIGGER WARNING] (skip past the next line if you don’t want any spoilers, but please read if you want to be prepared for any potentially triggering content.)  
 _asphyxiation, severe burn scars, brief mention of drowning_

We verify that there’s nothing of suspicion on the second deck before taking the elevator down to the third. We check through each of the unlocked talent rooms one at a time, starting with pastry chef, then archer, skipping past stalker since Takeshi keeps it locked, moving on to guitarist, then chess player, and finally, keyboardist. In that room, we’re greeted with the sight that none of us wanted to see… A lifeless body, leaned up against a wall near the door.

Fumie Fukuma, the Ultimate Keyboardist, is dead.

_ding dong dong ding “A body has been discovered! After a certain amount of time, which you may use however you like, the class trial will begin!"_

“...Fumie?” Isao slowly approaches the body. I follow him.

“I guess we need to… investigate…” I look around the room, starting away from the corpse.

_ding dong dong ding “A body has been discovered! After a certain amount of time, which you may use however you like, the class trial will begin!"_

“Huh?” Shōhei looks up at the speakers.

“Right, there were two talent keys… that means two bodies,” I recall.

I pull out my Monopad to check out the Monokuma files, and to find out who else it was that died.

_Monokuma File 03_   
_Victim: Fumie Fukuma_   
_Time of death: 10:24pm_   
_Cause of death: asphyxiation_

_Monokuma File 04_   
_Victim: Hirai Ichizo_   
_Time of death: 10:32pm_   
_Cause of death: unknown_

“Hirai…?” I read the Monokuma files in shock.

“Wait, it was Hirai?” Shōhei quickly walks over to me and looks at my Monopad. “Cause of death is unknown… what could that mean?”

“I don’t know… but it makes me want to go investigate his death,” I reply.

“I’ll stay here with Isao, you should come back and investigate Fumie’s death after finding Hirai’s body. You’re the Ultimate Detective, after all, I’m sure you’ll notice something that we don’t.”

“Alright. I’ll see you two later, then.” I leave the room and take the elevator down to the fourth deck in search of Hirai’s body.

I enter the pool area on the fourth deck to find Mizuki and Rei lifting what appears to be a corpse out of the pool, while Hitomi and Kan stand off to the side. I walk closer to see it as they rest the body on the edge of the pool, and sure enough…

Hirai Ichizo, the Ultimate Blogger, is dead.

“Seiki! Kan’s scared… there was another announcement before Kan and Hitomi and Mizuki and Rei got here, Kan doesn’t know who else died…”

I approach Kan and put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. “It was… Fumie… Isao, Shōhei, and I found her in her talent room,” I explain.

“Fumie!!” Kan starts crying.

“F… Fumie?” Hitomi asks in shock.

“Yeah…” I don’t know what else to say. This must be hard for her, they were pretty close friends…

“I… I need to go see for myself, I think…” Hitomi leaves the room.

I turn back to where Mizuki and Rei had placed Hirai’s body. I approach them.

“Hey, Seiki. We found him in the pool just now, what an awful way to die…” Mizuki says.

“The Monokuma file says his cause of death is unknown,” I mention.

“Huh? I was sure it’d be drowning, since he’s in the pool and all that… wait a sec.” Mizuki leans down and turns Hirai’s corpse over to look at his face. “It’s all messed up…”

“Gruesome,” Rei comments. He leans down to inspect the body more thoroughly. “Body shape, clothes, hair, hair clips, all that… it’s Hirai, but what did the killer do to his face…”

I lean over to look at the face on the corpse. It looks like burn marks…

“That could be what killed him… but I wonder why the cause of death would be unknown on the Monokuma file. I assumed that was something we’d be told each time,” I say.

Mizuki walks over to Kan to comfort him and I investigate the rest of the pool area to see if I can find any clues. I wait until Rei is finished looking at Hirai’s body before I approach, kneeling down to look at his face more closely. Yeah, those are definitely burn marks… whoever did this was determined to destroy his entire face. If it weren’t for the rest of his body and his outfit, I wouldn’t be able to tell this was Hirai.

I can’t think of why someone would burn off his face, or dump his body in the pool… but since I don’t find any other evidence in the pool area, I decide to leave.

Next, I investigate more of the fourth deck. The only room that seems at all out of the ordinary is the nurse’s office, where a first aid kit is out and open. There seems to be some bandages missing from it… did someone get hurt last night?

After that, I take the elevator back up to the third deck. In the hallway, I search for anything I can find… and I notice some unusual things recently discarded in the trash can. First thing I notice is a box of matches. I don’t know where on this ship someone would get matches… I open the box to find about half of them have been used and put back away in the box. This could be what damaged Hirai’s face…

The other thing I notice is a scarf. It’s pale blue and looks identical to the one Shōhei often wears, presumably an extra copy of it from his cabin. Upon closer inspection, it seems slightly torn towards the middle…

Once I’m finished inspecting the hallway, I make my way back into the keyboardist’s room. Shōhei and Isao are still here, sitting off to the side, while Hitomi is crying in the corner and Ko is comforting her.

I approach Fumie’s body to get a closer look. I notice some bruising on her neck… presumably due to her cause of death being asphyxiation. I look at her hands and notice some pale blue fabric fibres under her fingernails. The last thing I notice is some kind of stain on her shirt. It looks like tears, but it seems unlikely they’re her own due to the angle at which they appear. They don’t seem too recent, either, so I doubt it was after her body was found. Did the killer… cry on her?

_"Erm, so ah... I'm getting tired of waiting. What say we just get started, hm? It's time for the long-awaited... Class trial! Now then, please go down to the sixth deck now available on the elevator! Puhuhu. See you soon!"_

That time already… Shōhei and Isao get up and leave first and I follow them, Hitomi and Ko following behind me as well. We enter the elevator when it stops at the third deck, and we descend to the sixth deck once again.


	14. Chapter 3: Class Trial

When the elevator reaches the sixth deck, the ten of us step off and into the trial room for the third time. I see three more portraits added to those on stands in place of the people we’ve lost; Sachiko, Fumie, and Hirai. It’s hard to believe that two people were killed last night… but we need to work together to find the culprit. I step up to my podium again, determined to find the truth.

[TRIGGER WARNING] (skip past the next line if you don’t want any spoilers, but please read if you want to be prepared for any potentially triggering content.)  
_mentions of asphyxiation and severe burn scars, very brief mention of drowning_

Once again, Monokuma appears on his chair to declare the start of the trial.

“Oh boy, two murders this time? How fun, you’ll have even more to discuss! Well then, you all remember how this goes, right? Your votes determine the results. Figure out ‘whodunnit,’ or you’ll all be punished and the blackened will graduate! Now, get discussing the evidence, and I’ll let you know when it’s time to vote!”

“Wait, Monokuma,” Rei speaks.

“What is it?” The bear leans over to look at Rei.

“If there’s two victims, doesn’t that mean there could be two culprits? Does that mean we need to vote twice, and two people will be punished?” He smirks as if he somehow already knows the answer to his question, though I’m pretty sure he’s always smirking by default.

“I’m glad you asked! These things are first come, first served! The first to die is whose killer we’re looking for, and the second doesn’t matter at all!”

“Good to know,” Rei says, turning back towards the circle.

“Wait, so if Hirai’s killer is different than Fumie’s, they get off scot free?” Mizuki asks.

“Yup! That’s right! Though, most of the time it’s the same killer for both!”

“‘Most of the time’? Does that mean… this has happened before…? Killing games like this… have happened before?” Shōhei looks at Monokuma in disbelief.

“Of course! Did you really think you were the first ones to be in a killing game? Where do you think the idea came from?” Monokuma leans back in his chair. “Anyways, stop asking me things and get to discussing! If you waste too much time, I’ll make you vote before you’re ready!”

“Jeez, alright. So who killed Fumie?” Mizuki redirects the conversation.

“Whoever it was… she didn’t deserve to die. Neither did Hirai, especially when I offered myself up as a victim. Why didn’t you just kill me!?” No one really answers Takeshi, but Ayao gives him a sympathetic look.

Ko signs to Hitomi, who translates for them. “Ko was asleep in their room and says they think most people probably were, so not many people would have alibis… However, I was in my talent room until right around the two times of death. I was working on my story… It makes me wonder if I just narrowly missed the killer on my way back to my room…”

“I was asleep in my room as well,” I add. “Does anyone have a solid alibi for those points in time?”

“I was in Shōhei’s cabin,” Isao says. “I couldn’t sleep so I went to visit him. I know I was there before the time of poor Fumie’s death…”

“Yeah, he was with me,” Shōhei confirms.

“Kan… Kan hurt his hand in the kitchen… after cleaning up the stuff he used to make banana bread, Kan had a glass of water, but it fell and he cut his hand cleaning it up… so then he went to the nurse’s office, and Rei was there! But he doesn’t know what time it was…”

“I was there since shortly after 10, and Kan showed up around 10:20. We both have alibis,” Rei explains.

“Why were you at the nurse’s office?” Mizuki asks, seeming a little suspicious of him.

“I had a headache, I was looking for something to take for it,” Rei explains simply.

“Why’d that take 20 minutes?” Mizuki doesn’t seem to be buying it.

“I was having trouble finding something. Besides, Kan was there at the time of both murders, so I have an alibi. What, do I seem suspicious? Who exactly do you think I would’ve killed for with this motive?”

“...Nevermind.” Mizuki sighs and looks at Rei with a sour look on her face, hesitantly accepting defeat.

“Since there are too many people missing alibis, we should take a look at the other evidence to find the culprit,” I suggest.

“I agree with Seiki!” Ayao speaks up excitedly. “I, uh, I looked in the trash can on the third floor, and Shōhei, it doesn’t look so good for you…”

“Me!? I was… in my cabin with Isao…” Shōhei looks nervous.

“It’s true that a copy of your scarf was in the trash. I noticed it looked a little torn up,” I mention.

“There’s no way it could’ve been this beautiful dancer! I was with him the entire night!” Isao immediately steps up to his defense.

“But, think about the motive,” Rei says. “You two are pretty close, huh? I wouldn’t be surprised if one of you killed, and the other knew but agreed to cover it up so that you could both get out together.”

“N-no, hold on…” Shōhei seems to be panicking. I don’t think he’s the culprit…

“The dressers hold plenty of copies of our outfits, so someone else could’ve taken it,” I explain. “Shōhei, was there any chance earlier in the day that someone could’ve snuck in and stolen one?”

“Y-yes, I was out of my room for a good portion of the day… that must be what happened, I swear I’m not the culprit.” I look into his eyes and sense that he’s being sincere.

“Hold on, how do we know the messed up scarf has anything to do with the murder? What if his scarf got caught on somethin’ so he threw it out and grabbed a new one from his room?” Mizuki doesn’t seem to make the connection.

“Yeah… Kan doesn’t see how it’s related…” Kan seems confused about the whole situation.

“I noticed it, under dear Fumie’s fingernails… blue fibres, just like those in the lovely Shōhei’s scarf…” Isao says.

“I noticed that as well. The tears on the scarf line up perfectly to suggest that the culprit used it to strangle her from behind, and she attempted to grasp at the scarf to free herself. This also fits with the cause of death being asphyxiation on the Monokuma file,” I explain.

“Um… I’m sorry to interrupt this, but…” Hitomi speaks up. “Isn’t… isn’t anyone concerned about Hirai’s death?”

“Hm? But that doesn’t matter for this trial. You heard the bear,” Rei replies.

“Yeah, it might not be important to the trial, but it’s important to me… I was closer with Fumie, but when we find her killer, they’ll be the one to be punished… I think we should find out what happened to Hirai, for his sake.” Hitomi looks like she truly cares about this.

“Alright, waste our time. So, who do you think killed Hirai?” Rei leans over on his podium, acting obviously sarcastically interested.

“I think putting together the evidence for Hirai’s murder might help us get closer to finding Fumie’s killer,” I say.

“Well we found his body in the pool,” Mizuki starts. “I thought he drowned, but then we saw his face.”

“What was wrong with his face??” Ayao looks confused, presumably not having seen Hirai’s corpse.

“It was all burnt off,” Rei explains. “Wonder what kind of sadistic bastard did that to him.”

“We don’t have a cause of death on the Monokuma file, only a time of death. It was a few minutes after Fumie’s, so it’s possible that the same person killed them both,” I say.

“Is it safe to assume the body was moved after being killed? He was found in the water… if his face was burnt that heavily, it couldn’t have happened in the pool,” Shōhei explains.

“Kan remembers… last night, Kan heard a big splash! When Kan and Rei were in the nurse’s office… then Rei went to check it out, while Kan finished bandaging his hand,” Kan explains, holding up his bandaged hand.

“Hmm… I don’t seem to remember that,” Rei says.

“Huh?” Kan looks confused. “Kan… Kan is sure he remembers…”

“Wait!! On top of the scarf, in the trash can, I remember now! There was a box of matches!!” Ayao exclaims.

“Yes, I saw that too. I checked inside and a portion of them had been used and put back into the box. It looked like it could’ve been enough to have burnt off Hirai’s entire face,” I explain.

“But how did he die?? Did the Monokuma file really not say?” Mizuki asks in disbelief. “It always tells us the cause of death, was it the matches or somethin’ else?”

“Due to that lack of information, it’s hard to be sure. There were no visible signs of any significant deadly wounds on his body, so the burn scars on his face are the only clue we have towards his cause of death,” I explain.

“Can’t we just-- hey, Monokuma. How did Hirai die?” Takeshi speaks up for the first time since the beginning of the trial.

“Well, it’s no fun if I tell you that, is it? If it’s not on the Monokuma file, you’re not gettin’ it from me! Upupupu!”

“Goddamnit…” Takeshi looks defeated.

Ko signs to Hitomi again, who translates, “Ko says we’re not getting anywhere with this… they think we should go back to discussing Fumie’s death.”

“You make a good point,” I say to Ko. “Alright… we were discussing the scarf. With Shōhei’s alibi, it’s unlikely that it was him… so that brings it down to whoever is missing an alibi and had a chance to steal a scarf from his room.”

“That’s nearly all of us,” Mizuki says.

“I think my alibi is fairly strong… I saved my story right around the time of Fumie’s death, which should display in the file information on my laptop,” Hitomi explains.

“Plus, you guys were like best friends! There’s no way it was Hitomi,” Mizuki says confidently.

“Ooh! What if the same person killed them both, first they tied up Hirai by the pool and set his face on fire, then they went and strangled Hitomi, then they went back and finished off Hirai before dumping him in the pool!! And they threw away both murder weapons in the third deck trash can!!” Ayao seems far too excited to be piecing together evidence from two murder cases.

“Oh, a mind just as beautiful as the girl who owns it! Did anyone find rope to suggest the killer tied up poor Hirai?” Isao questions.

“No, I conducted a thorough investigation and didn’t find any used rope anywhere,” I explain, wondering how she even came to that conclusion. “I highly doubt Hirai was tied up…”

“Oh, so we’re wasting our time on Hirai’s case again? I see,” Rei says.

“It’s not wasting time. Ayao was just suggesting a theory…” Takeshi defends her.

“Yeah! I think I was probably wrong, but it felt kinda cool to put things together! I think I get why Seiki likes being a detective, now!” Ayao smiles at me.

“Um, sure… anyways, we should get back to discussing evidence relating to Fumie’s death. She was found in her talent room,” I say, attempting to refocus the conversation.

“She was leant up against a wall… if my stolen scarf and the fibres under her fingernails are to suggest anything, she was strangled from behind,” Shōhei explains. “I think her body could’ve been moved after she died…”

“Well, Miss Ultimate Detective,” Rei addresses me. “What else did _you_ find in her talent room?”

I glare at Rei before responding. “On her corpse I noticed some bruising on her neck due to her cause of death, and of course the blue fibres. Something else I found, though, was tear stains on her shirt,” I explain.

“Tear stains? Was she cryin’?” Mizuki asks.

“It’s possible, but the angle at which they appeared on her shirt leads me to believe it wasn’t her own tears,” I say.

“Someone… cried on her?” Ayao questions.

“She was a charming young lady who made many friends in her time here,” Isao mentions. “It’s not unlikely that someone close to her cried onto her once finding her body.”

“I agree with that, however, the tear stains didn’t look fresh. They appeared to be several hours old,” I point out.

“Putting your talent to good use,” Rei cuts in. “So the killer cried on their culprit, how tragic. I bet that instant regret was too much for them.”

“Someone without an alibi… who had a chance to steal my scarf… and would allow their emotions to overcome them in a moment that important…” Shōhei lists the criteria collected thus far for Fumie’s killer. “If we take the motive into account, it could be someone who wanted to escape with someone else… but the past two killers weren’t specifically affected by the motive…”

“We should take the motive into account for now and go through the suspects that arise from that, and if we can rule them all out then we can open it up to everyone else,” I suggest.

“Like I said, my story save time is a solid alibi. There’s no function on that laptop that lets me set it to save at a specific time, so it guarantees that I was in my talent room…” Hitomi mentions.

“I don’t got an alibi, but I’d never kill! ‘Specially not Fumie…” Mizuki frowns. “Guess I don’t really have anything to defend myself, huh? I can’t let you guys vote for me when I know it’s not right… so I’ll help you find the real killer!” I have to admit, Mizuki seems far too good-hearted to ever commit murder, even in a place like this. I don’t suspect her.

“You know already that the motive doesn’t mean shit to me anymore,” Takeshi says. I can hear the despair in his tone… I doubt he’s the killer.

“I… I didn’t do it, I don’t know how to prove that, but I didn’t do it!! I wanna get out with everyone, not just one person!! I want us all to go home together!!” Ayao looks worried but some of her natural happiness shines through with her words.

Hitomi translates Ko’s signing once again. “Ko says that they don’t have an alibi either but didn’t do it… they say they value the friendships they’ve made here but wouldn’t kill anyone for them.” I look at Ko to see they’re shaking in fear. I don’t feel any sense of guilt from them, but it’s hard to tell…

“Hitomi… you said that you saved your story ‘around’ the time of Fumie’s death. Do you remember exactly what time it was that you saved?” Not many of us have alibis, but even the one she has is rather weak…

“U-um, no, I don’t remember exactly, sorry…” She looks nervous.

“Monokuma, is it possible for us to see the file information?” I turn to face the bear.

“Of course!” A screen pops up in front of his pedestal, displaying the file and its information. “Here ya go!”

The information on the screen lists the file name, what computer it’s on, the time and date it was created, and the time and date it was last edited. The ‘last edited’ section says ‘10:26pm’ last night.

“That’s two minutes after Fumie’s time of death,” Shōhei says.

“See? I was in my talent room working on it when she died,” Hitomi repeats.

“All this proves is that you were in your talent room two minutes after Fumie’s time of death,” I point out.

“Y-yeah, but two minutes… that’s a really short amount of time, isn’t it? How could I have kill… killed her, and then moved her body against the wall, cried on her, as you mentioned the killer probably did… um… thrown out the scarf in the hallway, and made it back to my talent room all in two minutes?” There’s fear in Hitomi’s eyes.

“You wouldn’t necessarily have to do all that before going to your talent room,” I state. “If you were determined to secure your alibi, you could’ve headed straight for your talent room after killing her and made it there within two minutes. Then you could’ve gone back to the crime scene to say your last goodbye and clean up the evidence the best you could.”

“W-why are you accusing me? She was my… she was my friend… how could I kill her?” Tears start flowing down Hitomi’s cheeks.

“It wasn’t her!! They were so close, didn’t you see them!? All three of us, we were the best of friends!! Whoever killed Fumie broke that apart, and you’re blaming her!?” Mizuki jumps to Hitomi’s defense.

“Well, the motive said you could only take one person with you… why not kill your second choice to get them out of the way?” Rei smirks.

“NO!! She didn’t do it, I know it! I know her…” Angry tears start to well up in Mizuki’s eyes.

There’s an incredibly tense silence as Hitomi looks at the floor in front of her. Mizuki looks at her without saying anything, anticipating a defense.

After at least a solid minute of silence, Hitomi speaks again. “I didn’t kill Hirai…”

“H...Hirai?” Mizuki questions, her voice weak.

“What does Hirai’s death have to do with this?” Takeshi asks. “We don’t need to find his killer. Just admit it, you took the chance I couldn’t with this motive.”

“I didn’t kill Hirai… and I want to know who did.” Hitomi continues to avoid eye contact with anyone, neglecting to make a statement on whether she killed Fumie or not.

“I’ve considered all the evidence regarding Hirai’s death and haven’t come to any conclusions. I don’t believe there’s anywhere on the ship that someone could get matches… so I’m not sure if you’ll get an answer,” I explain to her. “This trial is for Fumie’s death. Are you… admitting to your crime?”

“I’m not admitting anything until we find out who killed Hirai! I w-want… I wanna know why he had to die too.” She continues to stare at the floor.

“Alright, fine. It was me,” Rei says.

“Huh?” Hitomi looks up at Rei.

“You heard me. I killed Hirai. I burnt off his face and dumped him in the pool. Kan was right about hearing the splash, but I’d already left by that point.” Rei crosses his arms.

“But… but Kan remembers for sure Rei was with him when he heard the splash! He remembers Rei said, ‘I’m gonna go check that out. I’ll be right back.’ Kan remembers for sure!!” Kan insists. I’m inclined to believe him.

“Nah, you’re remembering wrong. I left just a bit before his time of death, met him by the pool, and killed him right there.” Rei doesn’t seem phased at all by what he’s admitting to.

“Where did you get the matches?” I ask, doubtful of his confession.

“Mmm… Don’t remember,” Rei shrugs.

“How do you not remember something like that?” Hitomi speaks in a distressed tone.

“I dunno! Just got them somehow.”

“Then why… why did you kill him?” She pleads.

“Because I felt like it? Anyways, you got what you wanted: a confession. I don’t care if you don’t believe me, Hirai’s death isn’t the one that matters in this trial anyways. Now, are you gonna admit to killing Fumie, or what?”

“She didn’t…” Mizuki speaks quietly. The entire time, she’s been frozen in disbelief.

“Mizuki…” She hesitates to speak.

“Come on, just say it. Say you killed Fumie so we can get this thing over with,” Rei says.

“Hey, stop that.” I defend Hitomi because Rei is just being annoying at this point. I look back to Hitomi to see her struggling to come up with words to say.

“If you’re not ready to admit it yourself… I think it’s time we look over this case from start to finish.”

“It started yesterday morning when the motive was announced. The culprit had been homesick already and had grown a close and potentially romantic relationship with someone on the ship. They decided this was their chance to escape with their loved one and go home.  
At some point during the day when they were on their own, they snuck into Shōhei’s cabin on the first deck and stole a copy of his scarf to use as the murder weapon. They waited until nighttime to commit their crime, as to avoid too many other people having alibis.  
They invited Fumie to hang out in her talent room. She agreed, due to already having a close and trusting friendship with the culprit. After spending some time together, the culprit caught Fumie off-guard and strangled her with the stolen scarf. She fought against the culprit and grasped at the front of the scarf, but it was no use.  
Determined to secure their alibi, the killer rushed out of the room and across the hall to their own talent room, where they saved a file exactly two minutes after Fumie’s time of death. They then went back to the crime scene and said their goodbyes, moving the body against a wall and crying which left tears on the front of Fumie’s shirt.  
On their way out, the culprit discarded the torn scarf in the trash can in the hallway on the third deck. With that, they were finished their crime.  
Little did they know, another murder was happening elsewhere on the ship… but we never found enough evidence to come to a solid conclusion on the death of Hirai Ichizo.  
But for this crime, the culprit of Fumie’s murder… is none other than Hitomi Takara, the Ultimate Writer.”

There’s another tense silence in the room as I finish my recap of the crime. Almost everyone is looking at Hitomi, while she stares at the floor once again.

“I…” Hitomi speaks silently, her voice weak. “I’m sorry…”

“No, no no no there’s NO way I’m believing that!! She wouldn’t do that, she wouldn’t… H...Hitomi, you wouldn’t…” Mizuki looks at Hitomi with a pleading expression.

“Puhuhuhu! Looks like you’re ready to vote! Now then, use the lever in front of you to make your selection! Who will be chosen as the blackened?” Monokuma cuts in, just like the past two trials, to inform us it’s time to vote. I know it’s the truth, but… I slightly hesitate when choosing Hitomi as the culprit.

“NO! We’re not ready to vote, Hitomi’s not… She didn’t…” Mizuki doesn’t seem ready to give up, but after a moment, she selects a vote. I doubt she voted for Hitomi.

When everyone’s votes are in, the small slot machine appears once again. The portraits spin until all three land on Hitomi.

“Congratulations! Correct again! The blackened in this case, the one who killed Fumie Fukuma, is none other than Hitomi Takara!”

“Why…” Mizuki avoids looking at Hitomi, her eyes tearing up once again.

“Mizuki… I’m sorry…” She manages to look up and face Mizuki. “I fucked up, I really fucked up… I shouldn’t have killed her, I knew it the moment she fell limp in my arms, I regretted it… it’s too late, and I’m so sorry…”

Mizuki looks up at her. “I’m not gonna believe it… I can’t…”

“You have to, Mizuki. It’s the truth. I w… I wanted to leave with you… but that was selfish, I should’ve never even considered it…” Hitomi is crying once again.

“Hitomi, no…” Mizuki can’t seem to say anything else.

“I… I wanted to leave together… I didn’t want to leave Fumie behind, to be punished with everyone else, seeing the look of betrayal on her face… I thought I should do it myself, while having a nice moment with her. I wanted to get it over with and let her last memory of me be a positive one. But that was stupid, I’m stupid… I never should’ve done that, or even thought about it…”

“You’re not stupid…” Mizuki speaks through a broken voice.

“Well then! If you’re finished your sob story, isn’t it time for your punishment?” Monokuma interrupts.

“I’m sorry…” Hitomi repeats. Mizuki steps down from her pedestal and approaches Hitomi. For a moment I worry if that’s against any rules Monokuma has, but she hugs Hitomi and Monokuma doesn’t stop her.

“I’ve prepared a very special punishment for Hitomi Takara, the Ultimate Writer!”

“No…” Mizuki clings tight to Hitomi.

“I love you…” I can barely hear Hitomi whisper to Mizuki.

“Let’s give it everything we’ve got! It’s… PUNISHMENT TIIIME!!”

With that, Hitomi is yanked out of Mizuki’s grasp and dragged away to her execution.

[TRIGGER WARNING] (skip past the next line if you don’t want any spoilers, but please read if you want to be prepared for any potentially triggering content.)  
_being crushed to death_

_THE FALLEN SHAKESPEARE_

_Hitomi is dropped onto an unfamiliar wooden floor with a magenta wall behind her. The wall is revealed to be the cover of a book on a giant bookshelf. Crashing can be heard in the distance as lines of bookshelves fall over onto each other, like a row of dominoes, steadily approaching the one Hitomi is on._

_She begins to panic and attempts to climb down from the shelf she is on. She hears the toppling bookshelves getting closer and closer, now noticing that books are flying off the shelves and onto the floor in all directions as the shelves fall. She reaches the last few shelves and jumps onto the floor to safety just as the shelf she was on topples over._

_She takes a deep breath as she thinks she’s safe, before noticing a rectangular shadow being cast over her from behind. She turns and looks up to see a huge book falling from directly above her, and doesn’t have enough time to run out of the way. The book squishes her to the ground and blood pours from underneath. The cover of the book is revealed to say “Savior Without a Life By Hitomi Takara”, the word “Life” written in blood over the scratched out word “Home” from the original title._

_Hitomi Takara, the Ultimate Writer, is dead._

It’s horrible to watch… no matter how many of these I see, I’ll never get used to how morbid they are. Mizuki is bawling her eyes out while the rest of us are standing there, staring blankly at the execution zone.

“Well then,” Rei speaks nonchalantly. “I think I saw some frozen pizzas up in the kitchen. I’ll cook up a few so if anyone wants some, feel free to follow.” He casually makes his way onto the elevator and leaves.

Ayao and Takeshi leave on the next elevator up. I notice Shōhei approaches Mizuki to comfort her, and Isao follows him. I turn around and see Ko walking towards me, scribbling in their notebook. They hold it up for me to read.

‘Hi Seiki. Should we leave together?’

I nod silently and we walk to the elevator. Kan follows us on and we head up to the first deck. It’s not even that late but I don’t know what to do other than go back to my cabin…

I wave goodbye to the two before entering my cabin and collapsing on the bed. I take a deep breath before allowing myself some time to think about the events of the trial.

Hitomi… really killed her friend. I guess I can see some points of logic in her reasoning behind it… but to think that she betrayed her close friend’s trust with murder…

My mind wanders to Hirai’s death. Did I not investigate enough? I must be missing something… I doubt Rei is truly the culprit. Kan clearly remembered being with him at the time of the splash…

I spend a while thinking over the little evidence we found regarding Hirai’s death before drifting off to sleep. It’s still mid-afternoon, but a nap is needed after a class trial like that.


	15. Chapter 3: Post-Trial Scenes

I wake up in the evening and notice the sun beginning to set outside. I’m hungry… I better go get some food before nighttime starts and the kitchen is locked.

I meet Ko on the way to the elevator, who’s holding a small whiteboard close to their chest. I guess they’ll need to carry that around more often now without anyone else who knows sign language to interpret for them… I wave hello as I get on the elevator with them.

They scribble a quick ‘Hi!’ on the whiteboard before selecting the second deck on the elevator. We both head in the same direction when we get off, so I assume they’re hungry as well.

In the kitchen, I notice some pizza in one of the fridges. It’s probably from earlier when Rei left after the trial to prepare some frozen pizzas.

“Hey, Ko. I’m gonna warm up some of this pizza, do you want some?”

They nod at me. I take the pizza out of the fridge and we each warm up some for ourselves before heading out to sit at the dining table together.

A few bites in, I decide to make conversation. “That was… an interesting trial, wasn’t it?”

They nod and set their whiteboard on the table to jot down a response. ‘Yeah. It’s sad that two people got killed, and kinda scary too.’

“It just frustrates me that we didn’t solve Hirai’s case. From the looks of it we’re not getting a proper trial for his murder, and I’m sure there’s some kind of evidence I missed somewhere… I highly doubt it was Rei…”

I’m looking away as I chew when Ko lightly nudges my arm with their whiteboard. ‘It’s okay. Whoever did it was probably just too scared to admit it, especially when they weren’t the one on trial and everyone knowing would just mean no one would trust them anymore. I understand that fear.’

“Hmm… that makes sense,” I say. They wipe off the message and begin writing again. I take another bite of my pizza before they slide the whiteboard over to me once again.

‘I guess I’m just a little shaken up because of Hitomi’s reason for killing Fumie. I was getting pretty close with her too, since she was the only one who knew sign language here besides me. The fact that it could’ve been me is terrifying.’

“Oh… you’re right, it is pretty scary to think about it like that. But… you’re alive now, and that’s what matters, right?” As I finish up my slice of pizza, they write again.

‘Yeah. I just hope I can get back home to my brother, Toka. I’m not gonna kill for it, but that’s all I really want.’

“I’m sure you can do it,” I say with a smile, giving Ko a small pat on the head. They seem to appreciate it as they smile back and lean into the pat.

_“It is now 10pm. As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then... Sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite...”_

“Good timing,” I say, picking up my empty plate. We both bring our dishes back to the kitchen before we take the elevator back up to the first deck together.

They scribble one last message to show me before we part ways. ‘Goodnight, Seiki!’

“Goodnight, Ko.” I enter my cabin and head to bed.

…

Late in the afternoon, Kan decides he can’t sit still and leaves his cabin. He wanders near the end of the hallway and knocks on a door. A tired-looking Mizuki opens it.

“Hi, Kan…” she greets in a sleepy voice.

“Hi Mizuki! Kan wanted to… see how Mizuki was doing…” Kan fidgets with his tie. He knows she just lost someone important to her, and wants to do what he can to help.

“If I’m being honest, not too great right now. I’ve managed to stop crying, so that’s a plus,” Mizuki half-jokes with a weak smile.

“That’s good! Crying can help sometimes, but too much of it is uncomfy! But Kan wants Mizuki to know that if she needs a shoulder to cry on, Kan’s got two of them!” Kan enthusiastically pats both of his shoulders.

“Thanks, Kan. That’s very sweet of you.” Mizuki manages to smile a little more genuinely. “I think I just need to sleep for a while… but I might take you up on that offer tomorrow.”

“Okay!! Kan hopes that Mizuki rests well and feels better soon!!”

“Thanks. You get some rest too… I don’t even know how late it is, but. Seeya later.” Mizuki gives a small wave.

“Byebye!” Kan waves back before Mizuki shuts the door. He then makes his way back to his own cabin, satisfied with having offered Mizuki his support.

…

Some time after the nighttime announcement, Shōhei slowly opens the door to Isao’s cabin. “Hey, Isao…”

“Hm? Oh, Shōhei. Hello,” Isao sits up on his bed. Prior to Shōhei’s entry, he was lying there, staring at the ceiling.

Shōhei closes the door behind him and sits on the bed next to Isao. He sighs.

“This place is dreadful… I don’t want anyone else to die. I don’t want to die, I don’t want you to die…” Shōhei leans back to lie on the bed.

“Shōhei… I’m not going to die. You know, I’ve evaded death once already, remember? I won’t go down that easily.” Isao turns to smile at Shōhei.

Shōhei meets his gaze but doesn’t return the smile. “I just don’t want to be here anymore…”

“Shōhei. It’ll be okay… I don’t know how to reassure you further, but I know you’ll be okay.” Isao reaches behind Shōhei to pull a rose out of the folds of his scarf.

“You can’t just produce roses to make me feel better all the time…” Despite his response, Shōhei smiles and accepts the flower before sitting up again.

“You don’t want it?” Isao takes back the rose and crumples it up in his hands, showing them both to reveal it’s vanished.

“You never fail to amaze me…” There’s a small hint of disappointment in Shōhei’s voice and Isao catches it.

“So you do want it,” Isao smiles and makes the rose reappear, handing it back to Shōhei. He smiles back and blushes a little, looking at the rose he’s now holding again.

“You should get some sleep.” Isao tucks Shōhei’s hair behind his ear.

“You too.” Shōhei looks away for a moment before leaning in and kissing Isao’s cheek, blushing. He then quickly gets up and walks to the door.

“Goodnight,” Shōhei says, standing there for a moment to hear Isao’s response.

“Goodnight, Shōhei.” He can hear the smile in Isao’s voice before he opens the door and leaves.

…

“Phew! Now that that’s out of the way, I can relax!” The Mastermind leans back in their chair, kicking their feet up on the desk in front of the monitors. They reach their arm just underneath the chair to grab a Monokuma plush and hold it up.

“Hmm… now that nearly half of ‘em are gone, maybe I’ll have you pop up a lil’ more,” they say to the inanimate Monokuma. “That’ll help entertain me!”


	16. Chapter 4: Day 1

_"Good morning, everyone! It is now 7am and nighttime is officially over! Time to rise and shine! Get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day!"_

I hardly got any sleep last night due to napping earlier in the day and thinking about the trial. It still bothers me that someone else killed and we aren’t getting any conclusions on it… There’s not much to do now but continue, so I take the elevator down to the second deck to get some breakfast.

I find Kan in the dining hall alone eating cereal. I wave at him as I pass by, getting myself a bowl of cereal from the kitchen before joining him at the table.

“Good morning, Seiki,” he greets as I sit down.

“Morning, Kan.” I look at the keys on the table once again as I take a bite of my cereal. There are three now, the two that I saw the previous morning, as well as a new one, the symbol being an upside down top hat with a wand next to it. Presumably for the Ultimate Magician.

“Kan noticed his key is here now. Kan’s gonna look at his talent room after breakfast… would you like to join him?” Kan reaches over and picks up the key with the paw symbol.

“Sure,” I respond, not having any other plans for the day. 

We spend the rest of the meal in silence, no one else passing through the dining hall. After returning our bowls to the kitchen, we take the elevator to the third deck and Kan walks ahead to find the door matching the symbol on his key. I follow him as he unlocks and opens the door.

The walls inside are a pale orange. There are large sinks and counters, and while to my memory I’ve never been to a dog grooming salon, this is just about what I would expect one to look like. One notably unique feature is a cage off to the side containing three of what looks to be slightly smaller Monokumas. Kan looks around the room while I approach the cage.

“Monodogs…” I read the label on the cage aloud. Kan approaches me.

“M...Monodogs?” Kan reads the sign. “‘Programmed like real puppies, groom ‘em just like real dogs!’ So there’s no dogs here…”

I take a closer look at the robots inside the cage. They have thick fur like a real dog but in the half-black half-white style of Monokuma, and they have dog-like ears and tails. They’re hopping up and scratching at the cage, like excited little puppies.

The more I look at them, the more familiar they seem… not just that they look like Monokuma in dog form, but I feel like I’ve seen them before. I can’t think of when I would have seen them, considering this room just got unlocked… could it be something in my missing memories…?

“They’re kinda cute,” Kan giggles, leaning down to open the cage. The three Monodogs exit the cage and jump on his legs. He sits on the floor to pet them.

I join him, petting one of the Monodogs. They’re strange… they’re a lot like puppies, but the resemblance to Monokuma is a little unnerving.

“Kan thinks this one has kinda long fur… maybe he should do what the sign says.” He picks up the Monodog in question, which waves its front paws around in an oddly adorable way. Kan puts down the Monodog next to him and leads the other two back into the cage before closing it.

“Does Seiki wanna help?” He asks, standing up and lifting the Monodog with the long fur.

“I can try… I don’t have much experience with dogs,” I respond, standing up as well.

“Here, Kan can show you!” He walks over to one of the large sinks and places the Monodog inside, where it sits obediently, wagging its tail. I follow.

He turns on the water and begins to shower the Monodog. It doesn’t seem to have much of a reaction to the water, just sitting there, tail wagging. I wait for Kan to give me instructions to help.

“Seiki can get the dog shampoo,” Kan takes one hand off the Monodog to point to a bottle on the counter near the sink. I do as he says and grab the bottle, handing it to him.

“Here, Kan will get the right amount and then Seiki can shampoo the Monodog! It’s like petting, but you need to make sure the shampoo gets through all the fur.” He begins to rub some shampoo into the Monodog’s fur before rinsing his hands and moving over to let me try. I do my best to spread the shampoo around, though feeling the firm mechanical structure of the Monodog’s body underneath the fur breaks the reality of it a little.

“That’s good! Kan thanks you!” When I’m finished, he rinses the shampoo out of the Monodog’s fur. When he’s done, the Monodog shakes the water off just like a real dog would. Kan lifts the Monodog out of the sink and places it on the counter, where it once again sits obediently, tail wagging.

“Can Seiki bring Kan a towel?”

“Sure,” I respond, looking around the room for a moment before spotting the towels. I bring one over to Kan and hand it to him. He dries off the Monodog.

“Kan kinda misses real dogs… but he’s happy that the Monodogs are here at least! He thinks, maybe he can see real dogs again one day, but for now he has these, and they’re pretty cute!” Kan smiles as he finishes up drying the Monodog in front of him.

“That’s a good mindset to have,” I smile at him. When he’s finished drying the Monodog, he picks it up once again to bring it to the area set up for trimming fur.

“Does Seiki wanna try trimming?” He picks up the scissors.

“Um, I don’t know…” I initially hesitate because I’ve never trimmed a dog before, at least to my memory, but then I remember these aren’t real dogs. “Maybe if you show me first I can try a little bit.”

“Ok!! It’s pretty easy, just like this.” He gets to work expertly trimming sections of long fur. Being the Ultimate Dog Groomer, he’s making it look a lot easier than it probably is. Plus, the Monodog is programmed to comply, so I’d assume it’s more difficult if the dog were moving around a lot.

“Here, you try now!” Kan holds out the scissors and I take them, approaching the Monodog. I slowly repeat Kan’s actions on another section of the fur, not doing as well as him of course, but accomplishing the task.

“That’s good! Kan thanks you! Now Kan will trim more to even it out!” He stops me not long after I start. That’s about the nicest way for someone to tell me I’m not doing well at something. Considering he’s the one whose talent is dog grooming, I hand the scissors back and leave it to him. He seems to be enjoying himself as he gets back to work.

“There we go! Monodog’s fur is nice and short now!” Kan grabs a dog brush and brushes through the now shorter fur, getting the rest of the cut strands out.

“I wonder if it grows back at all for you to trim again…” I’m not sure exactly how that would work, but if they’re here for him to practice his talent, it makes me wonder.

“Indeed it does!” Kan and I are startled by the appearance of Monokuma behind us.

“M-Monokuma!” Kan turns around to look at the bear. I turn as well, to see he’s standing on the counter behind us.

“These puppies are designed just for your talent! In that cage, over time, they reset back to the state you first saw them in! Just tomorrow you should be able to trim this one again!” He gestures to the Monodog that Kan just finished grooming. “If they didn’t get reset from time to time, how would you practice your talent in here forever?”

“Forever…” Kan sounds worried, his eyebrows furrowed.

“Forever! That is, unless you kill and get outta here! You’ll be here with these Monodogs for the rest of your life!”

“Kan… Kan wants to see his dogs again…”

“Monokuma, can you leave?” I address the bear, having had enough of him.

“Geez, fine! I get this cruise ship all ready for you guys with everything you’d ever need and you’re still not grateful? I see how it is.” Monokuma hops off the counter and leaves the room.

“It’ll be okay,” I rest my hand on Kan’s shoulder.

“Seiki… Seiki’s right! It’s gonna be ok, Kan is gonna take care of these Monodogs, and it’s gonna be ok.” He turns back around and picks up the Monodog, petting it in his arms. He smiles a little.

“I’m going to see what the others are up to. Do you want to come with me?” I offer.

“Kan… Kan’s gonna stay here for now. Even though they’re not real, the Monodogs kinda remind Kan of home, so he wants to be with them for now.”

“Alright. I’ll see you later, Kan. Have fun with the Monodogs,” I wave as I head towards the door.

“Byebye, Seiki!” He waves a little while holding the Monodog.

I leave the room. As I walk out into the hallway, I hear some applause coming from another room on this deck. I approach the source of the sound, which seems to be the door with the magician symbol on it. It’s slightly ajar, so I peek inside.

The room has a deep blue colour scheme, various magic supplies around the room. There’s shelves full of little props that could be used in tricks as well as larger items for performing bigger tricks. Isao stands in the center of the room, facing an audience composed of Shōhei, Ko, and Ayao.

“Seiki!!” Ayao notices me by the door and waves me inside.

“Ah, the gorgeous Ultimate Detective has arrived! Would you like to see some magic?” Isao flourishes the deck of cards he’s holding while he greets me.

“Sure,” I respond, entering the room and joining the audience.

“Here,” Isao hands me the entire deck of cards. “Choose any card you like.” I look through the deck and select the two of diamonds, holding it up. Isao takes the rest of the deck back from me.

“Now, tear the corner off of that card.”

“Tear the card…?” I look at him in confusion. Why is he asking me to damage the equipment he’s been given here?

“There’s plenty of decks on these shelves, it’s fine. Besides, I could repair it with magic, if need be. Now, tear the card!” He smiles through his explanation. I do as he says and tear the corner off of the card.

“Alright, now put that torn corner in a pocket.” I shove the corner into a pocket in my skirt, still holding the larger portion of the card.

“Here, can you shuffle a deck of cards?” He hands me the rest of the deck.

“I can try,” I respond, knowing generally how to but not having much practice.

“Alright, shuffle that torn card back into the deck.” I move to a table slightly to the side of where we’re standing and shuffle the torn card into the deck, before handing the shuffled deck back to Isao.

“Wonderful, nice and shuffled.” He shuffles it once more where he’s standing before fanning the cards out in front of me. “Now, can you find your card in there for me?”

I search through the deck, finding no torn cards, and no two of diamonds. “It’s… gone,” I say.

Isao looks through the deck himself. “Hmm… where could it have gone…” He furrows his eyebrows as if he’s deep in thought. “Perhaps, you could check… under your hat?”

“Under my…” I slowly lift my hat and find a card on top of my head. It’s the two of diamonds, with the corner torn off. “Woah…”

“Why don’t you check with that corner in your pocket, and you’ll see it’s the same one.” Isao smiles at me as I and take the corner piece out of my pocket, lining it up to find the tear matches perfectly.

“How did you…” I stare at the torn card in my hands, amazed.

“A magician never reveals his secret,” Isao winks at me.

“That was so cool!!” Ayao claps loudly. “I wanna learn magic!!”

“Maybe I can teach you some simple magic sometime,” Isao offers to her.

“Yeah!! That sounds fun!!” Ayao smiles brightly.

I sit down next to the others and watch Isao perform a couple more magic tricks. It’s hard to focus with my mind wandering to the mystery of my lost memories, and why we’re on this ship in the first place… After a while, I decide to leave.

“I’m gonna walk around for a bit, I’ll see you guys later.” I stand up to leave.

“Goodbye, Seiki. I’ll see you around,” Isao says.

“Bye Seiki!” Ayao waves. The other two wave as well as I leave.

I take a deep breath in the hallway, trying to think of where to go. I take the elevator back up to the second deck to get a glass of water. In the dining hall, I notice Mizuki’s key is still there. I wonder if she’ll come get it soon…

I sit in the bar with my glass of water, looking around. I look at the floor, right around where we found Rio’s body. It’s been long since cleaned up, as if it never happened… I can still remember how I felt when I walked in here, first seeing their body on the floor. Up to that point I had hope that this was all some awful prank. They didn’t deserve to die in this place…

I spend a long while sitting there, thinking about everything that’s happened up to this point. I try to think hard about my past, about any memories from the past five years… all I’ve got is that I’m the Ultimate Detective and a vague recognition of the name Sawao Yasuda, who’s supposedly my best friend. It’s frustrating...

A while after finishing my water, I decide I need to walk around for a bit. I leave the bar and take the elevator back down to the third deck to take a look at the talent rooms once again.

I look along the hallway and notice the rooms seem to be in alphabetical order by talents. The first one is archer, where Ko is currently inside by themselves practicing archery. Next is a door with a moon and stars symbol on it… for the Ultimate Astronomer. Rio never got to see this room… I can’t help but wonder if we ever will. I can only hope we won’t…

I go down the line of doors to see which ones haven’t been unlocked. Blogger is still locked… another one that the owner of the room will never be able to see. Chess player is unlocked, but Sachiko never got to see it… Dancer is still locked as well. Detective… the door has a magnifying glass symbol. This would be my talent room… I wonder what’s inside…

I move on to the next door. Dog groomer. Kan is still inside, now grooming another Monodog. I wave to him and he smiles and waves back. I continue to see the game designer room, still locked. That would be for Rei… I wonder what he does with his talent. That’s the end of this side of the hallway, so I turn around to look at the rooms on the opposite side.

The next room is the guitarist’s room, the door closed but unlocked. It doesn’t seem to have been touched since Matt’s death. Same goes for the keyboardist’s room, I doubt anyone’s been in there since yesterday’s investigation. The magician’s room is currently empty, the group inside having dispersed. Mathematician is still locked… and paparazzi… I guess that camera symbol really meant stalker all along. The door is locked, but I know Takeshi has the key.

As I near the end of the line of doors, I see the pastry chef’s room. It’s still so hard to believe everything that’s happened so far… next door is the volleyball player’s room. Still locked, but the key is on the table. I wonder if Mizuki will check it out soon. And finally… the writer’s room. The door is slightly ajar, and I peek inside to see Mizuki sitting at the desk.

“Mizuki?” I push the door open a little more.

“Oh, Seiki, hi.” She looks up from the computer and I can tell she was crying.

“I’m sorry, do you want to be alone?”

“Nah, it’s fine. I could use some company, actually.” She manages to force a smile as she turns the chair towards me. I enter the room.

“She’s real good at writing, huh… I didn’t read her books. Just came to look at what she was workin’ on about us here. She actually… wrote somethin’ for me, too.” She sniffles a little and glances at the computer screen.

“Really?” I look at Mizuki rather than the screen, figuring it was likely something personal between the two and she might not want me to read it.

“Yeah… just some stuff about how I should continue on for her. How she wants me to stay strong, even without her. Looks like she wrote it just for me to read if her plan didn’t work…” She looks down with a sad expression as she speaks.

“I think it’s good that she thought of that. If she had things she wanted to say but didn’t know if she’d have time in the class trial, or couldn’t say out loud…”

“It’s real sweet of her but it just makes me miss her even more, y’know? I just wish she hadn’t… decided to do that…” She sighs. “I miss Fumie too…”

“I understand… this whole situation is horrible. But if Hitomi thought to write that for you, she must really mean it. I know it might be hard, but I think you should stay strong for her… for both of them.”

“You’re right. I think… I wanna find out why we’re all here. What’s goin’ on with this whole place. I can’t just sit around and mope, I’ll have time to mourn ‘em when we’re all out of here. I wanna help you guys figure it out.” She stands up with a determined look on her face.

“That’s a good attitude to have, but don’t push yourself too much, alright?” I smile at her.

“Don’t worry ‘bout me! Let’s go get somethin’ to eat,” Mizuki suggests, making her way to the door. I follow her out and we take the elevator up to the second deck.

On our way to the kitchen, we notice Shōhei, Ayao, and Isao talking at the bar. They have two blenders out and eight glasses. Ayao and Shōhei are pouring a mixture from the blenders into the glasses.

“Hey guys! What’s up?” Mizuki greets them as she approaches, while I follow behind her.

“We’re making milkshakes for everyone!!” Ayao exclaims.

“We thought it might be good to try and spend some time together as a group,” Shōhei explains. “We were just about to start heading around the ship to gather everyone.”

“How ‘bout me and Seiki finish pouring these while you guys go get everyone?” Mizuki offers. I nod in confirmation that I’m willing to help.

“That would be great,” Shōhei responds.

“Okay!! I’ll go get Takeshi and anyone else on the first deck!” Ayao rushes out towards the elevator, almost spilling the milkshake she was holding when she puts it down.

“Let’s go find anyone on the lower decks while these two wonderful ladies pour the rest of the milkshakes,” Isao says to Shōhei. He nods, and they both leave.

“Oh, sorry for just offering your help like that. Kinda just figured you’d be willing to help like I am,” Mizuki says while she picks up where Ayao left off.

“It’s fine,” I assure her, pouring the rest of the mixture from the blender Shōhei was standing at. While I’m pouring, I count again. Eight glasses… but there are nine of us left. Why did they leave one out…?

At that moment, Ayao returns from the first deck with Takeshi and Rei. They join us in the bar.

“I found people!! Milkshake time!!” Ayao exclaims before grabbing a glass and taking a sip. “Thank you for pouring the rest!!”

“No prob! Thank you for making ‘em!” Mizuki responds, grabbing a glass as well. I take one before we make our way to the table in the dining hall as a group.

“Ooh, is that my talent room key? I’ll have to check that out tomorrow,” Mizuki says, grabbing her key off the table and shoving it into the pocket of her jacket.

Shōhei and Isao return shortly with Kan and Ko. All nine of us sit together at the table, enjoying our milkshakes. I notice that Isao’s the one who didn’t get one…

“Kan wonders… why doesn’t Isao have a milkshake?” As if reading my mind, Kan asks what I was thinking.

“Oh, I didn’t want one, I’m…” Isao pauses for a moment.

“He’s lactose intolerant. Right?” Shōhei looks to Isao for confirmation.

“Yes, I’m lactose intolerant. I’m more than happy just sharing time with everyone, I don’t need a milkshake.” Isao smiles.

“So, who do you think the Mastermind is?” Rei changes the subject.

“Goddamnit, I knew he’d start some bullshit like this.” Mizuki sighs and takes another sip of her milkshake.

“Kan… Kan is kind of worried about it too… he doesn’t wanna suspect anyone, but everyone alive right now is here…” He looks around the table and seems upset.

Ko slides their whiteboard into the center of the table for everyone to read what they wrote. ‘I think it’s useless to suspect anyone, we should just work together to find a way off this ship without killing anyone else.’

“Sounds like something a Mastermind would say,” Rei comments. Ko looks at him, shocked by his accusation.

“Hah, I’m just kidding. I know it’s you, Seiki.” Rei looks directly at me.

“What?” I almost can’t process what he’s accusing me of.

“Think about it. The Ultimate Detective, if you really wanted to get away with murder, wouldn’t she be your first target? The person whose talent is to find evidence and solve cases, you’d want her out of the way. The only way she could avoid getting killed would be if she was behind it all,” Rei explains. “Besides, what about the second motive? Your letter. I know what it said.”

“...Hold on…” I try to think of a defense but I can hardly comprehend what he’s saying.

“You’ve killed many people, right? Personally, I think you’re faking the whole memory loss thing. You remember killing people, and you remember planning this whole thing.” Rei finishes his milkshake and stands up. “Shōhei, Ayao, thank you for the milkshake.” He smiles at them graciously as if he weren’t just accusing me of being the Mastermind. He leaves his empty glass on the table and leaves.

“Hey, get back here!” Mizuki stands up, yelling after him, not finished her milkshake. He ignores her and gets on the elevator.

The table is silent for a moment. Kan is avoiding looking at me. This is bad…

“You guys don’t believe him, right?” Mizuki sits back down and defends me.

“Kan… Kan doesn’t wanna suspect anyone!” He looks down at the table, distressed.

“I don’t think Seiki’s the Mastermind,” Shōhei says. He looks a little confused, but I can tell he means it.

Ko slides their whiteboard over to me. ‘I still trust you, Seiki.’

“Thanks…” I take a deep breath and try to collect my thoughts.

“He did make some good points, but I don’t think I trust him either…” Takeshi leans over to look at me. “Was what he said about your motive letter true?”

I’m hesitant to respond, knowing it’ll make them suspect me more, but in a way, silence could be more suspicious. “Yes, it was… but I don’t know how he knew that. The only person I ever told was Hirai, and… I don’t know how to prove that I don’t remember it.”

“I believe you, Seiki.” Isao rests a hand on my shoulder and smiles at me.

“Kan… Kan thinks Seiki’s been too nice this whole time! Kan doesn’t think Seiki’s the Mastermind… but he’s worried…”

“It’s okay, Kan. I’d understand if any of you chose not to trust me, with how things look…” I look around at the others.

“I’m a little hesitant to trust anyone at this point… but I believe you,” Takeshi says.

“I believe you too! I don’t think anyone here is the Mastermind, I think Rei’s a little mean but I’m pretty sure whoever’s behind this isn’t one of us!” Ayao smiles brightly before sipping her milkshake again.

“Kan wants to trust Seiki… so Kan is gonna trust Seiki! Kan doesn’t know if that’s a bad choice… but it’s okay, it’s gonna be okay! Seiki is Kan’s friend!” He smiles at me.

I look around the table. They all seem to trust me… but why? Rei made some valid points, but since he hasn’t been that nice to people or spent much time with everyone, they trust me over him… that naivety might not be the best attitude to have in a killing game, but I don’t want to tell them not to trust me, either.

“Thank you guys,” I say, before finishing up my milkshake.

_“It is now 10pm. As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then... Sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite...”_

Ko quickly scribbles a message on their whiteboard. ‘I’ll clean up the glasses.’

“Um… I’ll help you out. I didn’t help at all with making the milkshakes, so…” Takeshi gets up from his seat.

“Kan’s tired… goodnight everyone! Kan hopes you all sleep well.” He pushes in his chair and leaves for the elevator first.

“Thanks,” I say as Ko takes my empty glass. “Goodnight, everyone.”

“I’ll head back up with you, Seiki! Night guys!” Mizuki heads for the elevator and I follow her.

As we get to the first deck, I realize how tired I am. I head for my cabin, waving goodbye to Mizuki as we part ways. Inside my cabin, I change into pajamas and get into bed. As I’m falling asleep, the thought crosses my mind once again… _how did Rei know what my motive letter said?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know much about dog grooming but I know a decent amount about dogs in general so I tried my best for that scene. also I got the idea for Isao's trick from Magic For Humans but I don't know if I explained it in a way that works the same as in that show


	17. Chapter 4: Day 2

_"Good morning, everyone! It is now 7am and nighttime is officially over! Time to rise and shine! Get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day!"_

I stay mostly asleep through the morning announcement, too tired to get up yet. Minutes later, I’m fully awoken by loud knocking on the door of my cabin.

“Seiki! Get up! We’re goin’ to my talent room!” I recognize the voice to be Mizuki’s. I drag myself out of bed.

“Just a minute,” I say, my voice very clearly sounding tired. I get dressed and open the door to see Mizuki grinning at me, Kan standing behind her.

“Let’s go! I wanna see what they’ve got for me!” I can hear a hint of sadness in her tone, clearly still upset that she can’t share it with the two people she became closest with here, but she seems to appreciate Kan and I spending time with her.

“Okay,” I agree before following her to the elevator. We descend to the third deck and Mizuki heads straight for her talent room, unlocking it with the key she grabbed last night.

The room is a small gymnasium with a turquoise colour scheme. There’s a volleyball net set up in the center and a cart full of volleyballs in the corner of the room. She immediately strides over and grabs one.

“Hell yeah! You guys know how to play?” She walks back over to Kan and I, volleyball in hand.

“Kan knows a little bit…”

“I haven’t played at all to my memory, but I can try to help you practice,” I offer.

“Alright! I’ll just practice spiking for now, we don’t have enough to play a game anyways.” I realize that she could mean we don’t have enough people here right now or that we don’t have enough people left alive anymore…

“Here,” Mizuki pulls the cart of volleyballs over to the side of the net. “Can you guys take turns tossing these for me to spike? Just aim for a little higher than the net, on this side.” She gestures to the side of the net we’re standing on, and I nod.

“Kan can do that!” He picks up a ball from the cart and gets ready to toss it. Mizuki moves a little away from us.

“Whenever you’re ready,” She says to Kan. He tosses it just how Mizuki said to, and she runs up and spikes it with amazing speed.

“Hell yeah!! Damn, I missed doing that!” Mizuki grins at us. Her grin fades a little and I can tell by the look in her eyes that she wishes she could’ve shared this moment with Hitomi and Fumie.

“I may not know much about volleyball, but that was impressive.” I smile at Mizuki.

“Thanks, Seiki!” My compliment seems to have cheered her up a little.

I grab a volleyball from the cart and toss it for her, which she spikes just as quickly as the first one. Kan and I continue to take turns doing this, every now and then Mizuki requesting us to throw it a little differently so she can practice different spikes. We spend quite a while doing this before Mizuki is starting to look a little tired out.

“Man, that was fun! Thank you guys for helping out,” she says, panting as she walks towards us.

“No problem,” I respond.

“Kan had fun!” He smiles at Mizuki.

“Good to hear! Alright, lemme clean all these up and then we can go get some ice cream or somethin’.” Mizuki gestures to the volleyballs all over the floor on the other side of the net and starts walking over to collect them.

“Kan will help!” Kan follows her and starts picking up some volleyballs. I decide to help out as well, and we get them all back into the cart pretty fast. Then we leave the room and take the elevator down to the fifth deck.

In the ice cream shop, Ko is alone looking at the different flavours of ice cream. The three of us approach them.

“Hey, Ko! What flavour you gettin’?” Mizuki strides up to them first and takes a look at the ice cream they’re looking at.

They take out their whiteboard to write, ‘I haven’t decided yet.’

“I’m here for chocolate fudge!” Mizuki scans through the containers of ice cream until she finds her flavour of choice. She grabs a cone and scoops some in while the rest of us look through the flavours.

I decide to go with vanilla, while Kan gets himself some rainbow sherbet. Ko decides on mint chocolate chip, and joins us at the table.

“This is soooo good!!” Mizuki chomps right into her ice cream.

“How… Kan thinks his teeth would hurt if he did that…”

“Oh it’s cold, but it’s worth it!” She takes another bite of her ice cream.

Ko slides their whiteboard across the table to Kan and Mizuki. I peek over to read what it says. ‘Kan, Mizuki, both of your talent rooms were unlocked recently, right? What are they like?’

“Oh, I just checked mine out today with these two! It’s basically just a volleyball court, sucks that I can’t play a full game but I had fun practicing this morning!” Mizuki smiles as she explains, before chomping into her ice cream once again.

“Kan’s talent room reminds him of his job at home. There’s no real dogs there, but there’s robot ones, Monodogs. They look kinda like Monokuma, and they’re good for practicing, but Kan kinda misses real dogs…”

Ko nods as they listen to both of their explanations, continuing to eat their ice cream. They then write another message for me. ‘Seiki, your talent room is still locked, right?’

“Yeah. I’m interested to know what’s inside, but considering how those rooms are unlocked, I can only hope to never find out.”

“I wonder which death unlocked mine…” Mizuki looks at the table.

“We saw your key before finding the bodies, so it would’ve been Fumie’s or Hirai’s,” I mention, feeling that it might make her feel a little better that it wasn’t Hitomi’s death that unlocked her talent room.

“Kan… wants to go back to his talent room,” he says, having just finished his sherbet.

“See you later, Kan.” I say. Ko waves at him.

“Seeya, Kan! Have fun with those Monodogs!” Mizuki grins at him once again, now distracted from the previous topic. Kan then leaves and heads for the elevator.

“I think I wanna be on my own for a bit, actually.” Mizuki stands up, finished her ice cream. “Seeya guys later!”

“Bye, Mizuki,” I say. Ko waves again.

The two of us finish our ice cream as well before Ko writes to me on their whiteboard. ‘Do you wanna walk around together for a bit?’

“Sure,” I respond, getting up. They stand as well, wiping off the whiteboard and tucking it into their hoodie. We leave the ice cream shop and wander around the fifth deck.

Passing by the music room, we hear someone playing piano inside. I peek in to see Shōhei sitting at the piano while Isao sits nearby, watching him play. He’s pretty good… Ko walks past me to enter the room, waving at the two. I follow them.

“Seiki, Ko. Hello,” Isao greets us. Shōhei stops playing and turns around to see us.

“Hi…” he seems a little embarrassed that we heard his playing.

Ko writes to Shōhei on their whiteboard. ‘You’re really good at piano!’

“Oh, thanks.” He smiles at Ko.

“When did you learn how to play?” I ask, attempting to make conversation.

“My parents signed my sister and I up for lessons when we were young. I was a little more interested in it than her, but I didn’t continue for too long… it’s nice to have the ability, but I don’t play often,” Shōhei explains.

“That’s cool. If you want to play some more, I’d like to listen,” I say, pulling over a chair to sit near the piano. Ko does the same.

“Um… alright…” Shōhei pauses for a moment, turning back to the keys. He begins to play a fairly simple but beautiful melody, and the three of us watch. A few minutes later, his song ends, and the three of us applaud.

“That was beautiful,” Isao compliments.

“It was really good,” I add on. Ko nods in agreement.

“Thank you.” Shōhei smiles at us, blushing a little at the praise. “I’m no Ultimate Pianist, but I love music.”

Ko holds up their whiteboard to the three of us. ‘I wanna go practice archery on my own for now, see you guys later!’

“Bye, Ko.” I wave as they stand up.

“Goodbye,” Shōhei says.

“See you later, Ko.” Isao smiles at them. Ko waves as they leave.

I sense that Isao and Shōhei want to spend some more time alone, so I decide to get up to leave as well.

“I’m gonna go get something to eat, I’ll see you two around.” They both wave to me as I leave.

Ko is already out of sight by the time I leave the music room, so I take the elevator up to the second deck on my own. When I exit into the general hangout area, I take a moment to gaze out one of the large windows, noticing it’s raining. I try to scan the horizon for any hint of land… but there’s nothing. Wherever we are, it’s far away from home.

I make my way through the dining hall and into the kitchen. I see Takeshi leaning against a counter, eating toast, staring at the wall in front of him.

“Good evening,” I greet him.

“Seiki… hi,” Takeshi sighs. I move past him to look in one of the fridges, settling on some strawberries. I take them out and grab a bowl to put them in. I decide to stay in the kitchen to eat, and attempt to make conversation with Takeshi.

“Are you doing alright?” I ask.

“Not really… I just don’t know what to do anymore. Ayao says I should talk to more people on the ship, stop hiding in my cabin or talent room, so I came last night when they made milkshakes… but I don’t really see the point…”

“Takeshi… I’m sorry to bring him up, but… I know Matt meant a lot to you. I can hardly imagine what you’re going through, but you need to continue on. You knew him well, right? Do you think he’d want to see you moping around like this, hardly talking to anyone, barely managing to take care of yourself?” I hope I’m right in my assumption that Matt wouldn’t want to see him like this. I feel like this is what Takeshi needs to hear…

He looks at the floor with a sad expression. He pauses for a moment before quietly responding. “I guess you’re right… it’s just hard when the person who gave my life meaning was taken away from me so suddenly… I need time.”

“You can take time to mourn, everyone does. But Ayao’s right, you can’t just hide from everyone on the ship.” I decide to leave it at that. He doesn’t say anything else in response, taking a moment before continuing to eat his toast.

After finishing my bowl of strawberries, I decide to look around the kitchen for any hints of why we’re here. I doubt I’ll find anything of interest, but I take a look anyways.

There’s nothing particularly unusual about the kitchen, except… there’s a knife very clearly missing from the set. I check the sink and dishwasher in case it was used recently and hadn’t been cleaned yet, but it’s not there. It wouldn’t have had anything to do with any of the murder cases up to this point, considering no one had any stab wounds or cuts… could someone have taken it recently, maybe planning a murder?

“Why would it be missing…” I mutter to myself, and Takeshi hears.

“Hm?” He turns to see what I’m looking at.

“Oh, I just noticed… there seems to be a knife missing from this set.”

“Knife… hm,” Takeshi looks at the set of knives.

“I’m just wondering why it’s not there, with what this place is like it’s completely possible that someone stole it for a murder they’re planning. Or maybe, in some roundabout way, it’s related to Hirai’s death…”

“Yeah, I wonder… actually, I think it’s been missing for a while now, but I could be wrong…”

“Really? The fact that I didn’t notice makes me feel like a pretty bad Ultimate Detective,” I joke. “I guess I haven’t looked too closely at the kitchen since we got here.”

“Maybe it’s just that you always know where to look to find the right evidence for a case,” Takeshi suggests.

“Yeah, maybe… if that’s so, then I guess it hasn’t had anything to do with the murders up to this point. Or maybe it is related to Hirai’s, since I’ve been thinking about it so much…” I pause for a moment. “Coincidences like that aren’t very reliable, though. I can only hope it doesn’t have anything to do with someone planning a murder…”

Takeshi shrugs and goes back to his plate, finishing up his toast. I look around the kitchen for a short while longer, before deciding to leave.

“I’ll see you later,” I say to Takeshi before I head out.

“Bye,” he responds, staying where he is.

I walk out and head into the bar, grabbing a glass of orange juice and sitting down to drink it. I take a moment to enjoy the silence, as the sound of the rain outside the ship gradually gets louder. I let my mind wander, wondering about how far away from land we are, what life I might go back to if we make it off this ship…

After some time, I finish my orange juice and leave the bar. In the general hangout I notice Ko and Kan sitting together, Ko’s whiteboard on a table between them, as they pass the marker back and forth. I walk by them to see that they’re playing tic tac toe. I smile but don’t bother them and make my way past them, towards the elevator.

I take the elevator up to the first deck and enter my cabin. I notice through the small window that it’s beginning to get dark outside. With the clouds and rain, I can’t see the sunset very well. I decide to go to bed early, though I take a while to drift off to sleep.

I distantly hear the nighttime announcement through my sleepy haze, before I manage to fully fall asleep.


	18. Chapter 4: Day 3 + 4

_"Good morning, everyone! It is now 7am and nighttime is officially over! Time to rise and shine! Get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day! Oh, it’s been three days since the last class trial, hasn’t it? That means it’s motive time! Get to the theatre by 7:30am!”_

It’s been that long since the class trial already… as much as I don’t want to get up, I have to. As soon as I stand up, I notice the boat is tilting to one side and the rain outside has gotten much louder overnight. The boat suddenly jerks in the other direction and I nearly fall over, catching myself on the dresser in my cabin. I manage to get dressed and leave my cabin, struggling to make my way onto the elevator with some of the others.

“This damn storm’s pretty annoying,” Mizuki says when a few of us are on the elevator.

“Kan doesn’t like storms…” He holds onto the railing in the side of the elevator for stability.

Once the elevator reaches the second deck, we all make our way into the theatre. Most of us sit in the front row, the boat moving too much for us to be picky about our seats, but I notice Rei already sitting in the furthest row back.

Once we’ve all taken a seat, Monokuma pops up on stage. “Good morning! Apologies for the storm… actually, no apologies! That’s your next motive!”

“What?” Several of us respond, confused.

“This boat is strong enough that the storm won’t break through the windows or sink the ship, but it’ll be real annoying with how loud it is and how much it moves the boat around until someone kills to stop it! Now, get killing, or put up with this storm forever! Upupupupu!” With that, Monokuma disappears once again.

“Wait, get back here! How are you controlling the weather, you shitty little bear!?” Mizuki stands from her seat, shouting at the stage, but getting no response.

“Oogh, I don’t like storms…” Ayao stands up, clutching her stomach, and slowly makes her way out of the theatre.

“I think I need to lie down,” I say before leaving the theatre as well and taking the elevator back to the first deck. I don’t know if I had any experiences with boats in storms during my past five years of lost memory, but I’m definitely feeling the seasickness now.

I manage to get back to my cabin and lie down immediately. The rocking of the ship is still bothering me, but it’s easier to handle lying down. I don’t think I’ll be leaving my cabin for much of today…

After a while of staying there on my own, someone knocks on my door. I manage to sit up and say, “Come in.”

Ko enters the room holding a couple books as well as their whiteboard. They hold it out for me to read. ‘I figured some of the people struggling with seasickness might be bored, so I grabbed some books from the library to bring around. Would you like one?’

“Oh, that’s very nice of you. Sure, I’ll take…” I look at the selection of books. I notice a book I’d started reading shortly after we got here, but never ended up finishing… ‘Clinging to the Mist’ by Hitomi Takara. I sigh and take the book. “Thank you.”

Ko nods and smiles, a solemn look in their eyes as they notice which book I chose. They wave to me before picking up the stack of books and the whiteboard again, and leaving my cabin.

I find where I last left off and continue reading the book. It’s strange to think that I knew the author of this book, and that she’s dead now… but I manage to get past that and enjoy her writing. It really is a good book, and I find myself getting invested in the storyline to the point that I almost forget about the storm outside.

After a few hours of reading, I finish the book. I’m brought back into reality by loud thunder outside and the ship quickly jerking to the side. I nearly fall out of bed from the force, but manage to stay where I am. I close the book and set it down on the nightstand next to my bed.

I take a deep breath and try to stand up, but the boat quickly jerks the other way, causing me to fall back down onto my bed. This is awful… I look out the window to see nothing but rain and clouds. It’s loud, the movements are bothering me, and I want it to stop, but nowhere near enough to try to kill someone for it. I’ll just have to wait it out…

No, waiting it out means someone dies. Monokuma said this storm continues until the next murder, so if no one dies, it goes on forever… I’ll just have to get used to it, then, and hope that no one kills. That’s all I can really do…

A short while later, there’s another knock on my door. I wonder if it’s Ko again…

“Come in,” I say. Unfortunately, this time, it’s Rei. He seems to notice the disappointed look on my face.

“I bring you a sandwich and this is how you greet me?” He steps into the room and I notice a plate in his hands with a sandwich on it.

“Oh… thank you, Rei.” I take the plate from him and set it on the nightstand next to the book.

“You haven’t left your room this whole time. While we’ve had our disagreements, I don’t want you to starve to death.” He leans against the dresser and crosses his arms as he talks to me.

“I guess I feel the same about you…” I’m about to pick up the sandwich to take a bite when a thought crosses my mind. “Rei… how did you know what my letter from the second motive said?”

“Oh, that’s an easy one. It’s because I’m the Mastermind.”

My jaw drops. “...What?”

“I’m the Ultimate Game Designer, you know. Doesn’t it make a lot of sense for me to be the Mastermind? The designer of this killing game?”

“Yeah, but… why?” I try to process what he’s telling me. “Why are you doing this to us?”

“Hmm… because I felt like it?” He shrugs.

“Why are you telling me this?” I’m just… confused.

“Because no one will believe you,” he smirks.

“Wh…”

“They already suspect you at least a little from what I said. Even if they said otherwise, that was most likely just to spare your feelings. If you come out now calling me the Mastermind, no one’s gonna believe you. Besides, my talent connection is such a weak point, no matter how true it is. Good luck convincing anyone we ever had this conversation.” He smirks at me one more time before leaving my cabin.

I sit there in shock. Is he really… the Mastermind? It’s not too hard to believe, with how he is as a person, but something doesn’t seem right about it…

More loud thundering snaps me out of my thoughts and I turn back to the sandwich on my nightstand. Can I trust that it’s safe to eat…? I decide that it’s probably fine and eat the sandwich. Luckily, I’m right, and I don’t die or feel any more sick than I already did after eating it. I lie back down in bed and try to take a nap to pass the time.

I manage to fall asleep for a while, but more loud sounds and strong movements from the storm wake me up a while later. It’s hard to tell what time it is…

_“It is now 10pm. As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then... Sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite...”_

I guess that answers my question. I manage to fall back asleep shortly, planning to try and move around the ship more tomorrow to get used to the storm.

…

_"Good morning, everyone! It is now 7am and nighttime is officially over! Time to rise and shine! Get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day!"_

I yawn and stretch, slowly dragging myself out of bed. The book and plate on my bedside table remind me of the events of yesterday. I look out the window and see rain… not heavy rain, but a fairly light drizzle. It’s cloudy, but the water is calm. This wouldn’t be considered stormy weather…

As my brain processes that fact, a feeling of dread washes over me.

“No, no, no, not again--” I quickly get dressed and leave my room, deciding to deal with the book and plate later.

First I take the elevator down to the second deck. I seem to be the first one up… I rush over to the dining hall, and there it is- a new key on the table, this one with a video game controller as the symbol.

“Rei…”

“Hm?” Rei speaks up from behind me, startling me.

“Oh- Rei…” I don’t even know what to say to him.

“Ah, right on schedule. My talent room key.” He smirks as he picks up the key. “Now, why don’t we look for the body?”

“Kan… Kan is scared…” The boy approaches us, fear in his eyes. “He thinks someone died… the storm stopped…”

Isao comes in behind him as well. “Did something happen?”

“Yup,” Rei says, showing the key in his hand.

“Someone… someone did die…” Kan looks like he’s about to cry.

“Let’s… look for the body,” I reluctantly suggest.

Isao looks worried. “Yes… let’s search…”

[TRIGGER WARNING] (skip past the next line if you don’t want any spoilers, but please read if you want to be prepared for any potentially triggering content.)  
 _being crushed to death_

The four of us get onto the elevator, going to the third deck first. Rei unlocks his talent room while the rest of us quickly search all the previously unlocked rooms. I notice some things have fallen over from the storm in each room, but no bodies. Rei walks out of his talent room and closes the door behind him as we exit the last room.

“Onto the fourth deck, then.” Rei leads us back onto the elevator, and we search the fourth deck. Again, there’s nothing… just some general messiness clearly caused by the storm.

We get back on the elevator to go to the fifth deck. The café and ice cream shop are particularly messy, due to having food items that got spilled during the storm. We make our way past them and check the arcade. It seems relatively normal at first, but as I approach the back left corner, I see a pool of blood on the floor. This must be it…

I take a deep breath before stepping past the arcade machine in front of me. I’m greeted by the awful sight of someone crushed against the wall under an arcade machine.

Mizuki Nakahara, the Ultimate Volleyball Player, is dead.

“Mizuki…” Isao appears behind me.

“M… Mizuki!” Kan’s eyes widen in fear as he sees the body.

“Hm? Oh, you guys found the body?” Rei approaches us, looking at Mizuki’s body as well.

_ding dong dong ding “A body has been discovered! After a certain amount of time, which you may use however you like, the class trial will begin!"_

“Interesting…” Rei walks up to the tilted arcade machine that’s pinning Mizuki’s body against the wall. He reaches for the side and attempts to lift it, but he’s struggling a little. “Can you guys gimme a hand?”

Reluctantly, I nod and help him. Isao does as well, but Kan seems frozen in place. I decide not to bother him, and the three of us successfully move the arcade machine out of the way. As I’m letting go of it, I notice a bit of blood on a sharp edge of the machine, far enough away from where Mizuki was crushed that I doubt it’s hers. I take note of it and turn to look at her corpse.

It looks like the machine crushed her neck, mostly… a lot of her upper body is crushed, but her face looks mostly uninjured. Her whole body is bloody, and without the machine to pin her to the wall, her corpse has slumped to the floor. Rei is closely inspecting the body while I stand back for now and check the Monokuma file.

_Monokuma File 05_   
_Victim: Mizuki Nakahara_   
_Time of death: 11:52pm_   
_Cause of death: crushed by a heavy object_

“Oh my god--” Shōhei enters the arcade, Ko behind him, and they both see the body. Ko chooses to look away, sitting on the floor against an arcade machine, next to where Kan is now sitting. Shōhei and Isao walk off to the side to talk to each other, and I wait for Rei to move out of the way before approaching Mizuki’s body to take a closer look myself.

It’s an awful sight… but there doesn’t seem to be anything particularly notable. She was crushed by the arcade machine, no doubt about it. I’m trying to think of how it could’ve happened…

“Do you think the storm caused it to fall on her?” Shōhei appears beside me and asks.

“Maybe… She was the strongest out of us, so I don’t think someone pushed it on her on their own. But if it was the storm, wouldn’t it just be an accident? The announcement said there will be a trial, but if no one’s at fault, does no one get executed?” I wonder aloud to Shōhei.

“Excellent questions, Seiki!” Monokuma appears on top of the arcade machine we just moved off of Mizuki’s body. After the initial shock, I manage to listen to what he says next.

“I actually haven’t thought about the trial situation for a completely accidental death! However, there is a blackened in this case, so you needn’t worry!”

The thought crosses my mind that Monokuma didn’t show up until after Rei left… I ignore it for now and get back to my investigation. The others talk to Monokuma for a little bit before he leaves. At some point, Takeshi and Ayao show up as well, investigating together.

One more thing I notice while investigating the area is that there are some footprints near the edge of the pool of blood around Mizuki. They seem to trail off a little and then suddenly stop a few feet away. They look relatively small… I wonder who they could belong to…

Once I decide I’m finished investigating in the arcade, I leave. I check through the rest of the fifth deck one last time before taking the elevator up to the fourth deck. I probably don’t have much time… I feel like I should check the nurse’s office. Maybe Takeshi was right about me having some sort of detective’s intuition about looking in the right places to find evidence for a particular case…

The first thing I notice in the nurse’s office is a small drop of blood on the floor. Then, I see a first aid kit left open… I figure it’s likely that someone got injured during the storm and came here to patch it up, but I keep it in mind in case it has anything to do with the case.

_"Erm, so ah... I'm getting tired of waiting. What say we just get started, hm? It's time for the long-awaited... Class trial! Now then, please go down to the sixth deck now available on the elevator! Puhuhu. See you soon!"_

Once again, I desperately hope that I found everything relevant. I make my way out of the nurse’s office and back onto the elevator, with absolutely no idea who it could’ve been… then again, I was in my room the entire previous day as well as the night. Maybe things will clear up once I hear some alibis, and how everyone else was spending their day with the storm going on.


	19. Chapter 4: Class Trial

When the elevator reaches the sixth deck, I step off and make my way to my podium once again. Half of the podiums are now filled with stands rather than people… it’s hard to believe that only half of the people we arrived here with are left alive, and we’ll only be losing another soon. There’s nothing we can do about it, we just need to find the truth behind Mizuki’s death to avoid the majority of us dying.

As always, once everyone’s taken their places, Monokuma appears in his chair.

[TRIGGER WARNING] (skip past the next line if you don’t want any spoilers, but please read if you want to be prepared for any potentially triggering content.)  
_brief mentions of being crushed to death_

“Welcome back to another class trial! I assume you all remember how these go? Your votes determine the results. Figure out ‘whodunnit,’ or you’ll all be punished and the blackened will graduate! Get to it, I’ll let you know when it’s time to vote!”

Silence falls over the room. Everyone looks at each other nervously. It takes a moment for anyone to speak up.

“Where… should we start?” Isao asks.

“Alibis, perhaps?” Shōhei suggests.

“Me and Takeshi stuck together,” Ayao says. “I didn’t like the storm, so we stayed together in his cabin. We went to the kitchen for dinner, and I went back to my cabin for the night…”

“Yeah, I was alone for the night,” Takeshi confirms.

“Shōhei and I were together, I stayed the night in his cabin,” Isao states. Shōhei nods to confirm this.

Ko holds up their whiteboard. ‘I was sleeping in my cabin by that point, I don’t think many of us have alibis.’

“Kan… Kan was sleeping too…” The boy looks terrified. He was getting pretty close with Mizuki, this must be hard for him…

“I stayed on my own for most of the day. I guess I was probably back in my cabin by the time of her death,” Rei says. “What about you, Seiki?” Why is he talking to me like that?

“I was asleep as well. It looks like the only two with alibis are Isao and Shōhei, as the rest of us slept alone,” I comment.

“Shall we take a look at the evidence, then?” Isao suggests.

“The arcade machine crushed her, so maybe it was someone strong enough to push it on her,” Ayao says.

“I think the only one strong enough to have moved that arcade machine on their own would be Mizuki,” Shōhei notes. “She doesn’t strike me as the type to commit suicide, but even if she would, I doubt she’d use such a strange method…”

“I don’t think the culprit moved the arcade machine on their own,” I explain. “With the storm going on, the machine could’ve fallen over when the boat was tilting.”

“It was the storm, the storm is the culprit!” Ayao exclaims.

“I don’t think we can vote for the storm…” Takeshi frowns.

“Monokuma did say that there was a culprit in this case, so it’s not a complete accident…” Shōhei says. “Besides, was the storm really strong enough to push over the arcade machine on its own?”

“So someone took advantage of the storm tilting the boat and pushed the arcade machine on Mizuki,” Rei states. “Who might that be?”

The eight of us look at each other in silence. No one is talking… it’s not like the culprit will give up that easily, though. We need to go through the rest of the evidence.

“I think we should discuss the rest of the evidence,” I suggest. “Just focusing on the cause of death will get us nowhere.”

Ko holds up their whiteboard again for us to read. ‘I didn’t get a chance to investigate outside the arcade, but while I was in there I noticed some footprints in Mizuki’s blood. They could’ve been made after her body was found this morning, I wasn’t there right away.’

“I noticed the footprints too,” I mention. “Good eye, Ko.” They smile at me.

“Kan thinks that… uh, Kan saw the footprints too, but he doesn’t remember how long it was after finding Mizuki…”

“I was moving around a lot, it could’ve been me…” Ayao checks the bottom of her shoes. “They don’t seem bloody…”

“You guys aren’t so observant, are you?” Rei comments. “The footprints were there when I saw the body, and I was in the first search party to find it. So unless Seiki, Isao, or Kan was walking around in the blood before I came over, they were left by the culprit.”

“I didn’t approach poor Mizuki’s body until you asked us to help lift the arcade machine off of her,” Isao states.

“Me neither,” I add.

“Kan… Kan doesn’t remember…” He looks worried.

“It’s okay, Kan. Actually, I’d like to bring up something I noticed about the footprints while investigating,” I say. “They seem to have trailed off a few feet away from Mizuki’s body and then vanished. I doubt they were made during the investigation, it seems more like the killer realized they were tracking blood around and took off their shoes.”

“So it was the killer…” Isao looks deep in thought.

“Um, there’s something else I noticed…” Shōhei speaks up. “It’s probably unrelated to the footprints, but on the arcade machine, there was a bit of blood on a sharp corner. It was far enough away from Mizuki’s body that I don’t believe it’s hers…”

“Did someone get hurt there earlier yesterday?” Takeshi asks. “Ayao and I searched the nurse’s office and saw a first-aid kit left open, and a little blood on the floor near the door.”

“Kan… Kan went to the arcade, before nighttime! Kan scraped his hand, and, it was bleeding-- so he went to bandage it at the nurse’s office, and probably forgot to put away the kit, or clean up the blood,” he explains, holding up his recently bandaged hand. “He guesses it was the same arcade machine that… killed Mizuki…”

“Are you sure it was before nighttime?” Rei questions. “I had one of my regular headaches last night, and went to the nurse’s office to take something for it just after nighttime started. I didn’t see the first-aid kit left out then.”

“Kan… Kan thinks it was during the day…” He looks like he’s panicking a little.

“Do you have any proof of when you went to the nurse’s office?” I ask Rei, more inclined to believe Kan than him.

“No I don’t, Seiki,” he smirks at me. “You’ll just have to take my word for it.”

I roll my eyes at him and try to think. If he’s telling the truth, the evidence is starting to point towards Kan… but I know he’s not the type of person to kill someone.

“How do we know you’re not saying that to shift the blame onto Kan?” Shōhei asks Rei.

“You already know my answer to that. What reason would I have to kill? I don’t mind this place. I didn’t even mind the storm that much. Go ahead and vote for me, I don’t care if we all die here.”

“We’d need more evidence pointing to Rei,” I say. “Besides, there’s something that doesn’t line up…”

Ko lifts their whiteboard. ‘Weren’t the footprints pretty small? I think Rei’s feet would be too big to match.’

“They were somewhat small,” I confirm. “I think we can lower it down to those of us with smaller feet.”

The room falls silent once again. Everyone’s glancing around at those of us on the shorter side, trying to figure out who it could be.

“I… could be wrong about this, but there’s something I was thinking about…” Isao breaks the silence.

“What is it?” I ask him. We need something, anything to lower down who the culprit might be.

“Monokuma,” Isao turns to face the bear. “If I recall correctly, doesn’t the body discovery announcement play once three people besides the culprit see the victim’s body? In other words, four people total?”

“That’s correct! The body discovery plays immediately after the third person besides the blackened lays their eyes on a corpse,” Monkuma confirms.

“Then… I seem to remember that the announcement didn’t play until after Rei approached us,” Isao says.

“Huh?” Ayao seems confused.

“That would mean… me, Isao, or Kan is the culprit,” I clarify. “If we take shoe sizes into account…”

Isao takes off a shoe and holds it up. “I didn’t look closely at the footprints, but I believe my shoes would be too big for the size of the prints.”

“Yes, I agree. That would lower it down to me or Kan…” I can’t think of any way to defend myself, but the rest of the evidence does seem to point to Kan. I look at him. His eyes are wide and he’s staring at the floor in the center of the circle.

“Seiki was more bothered by the storm than Kan,” Takeshi mentions. “I saw Kan and Mizuki sitting in the general hangout when Ayao and I passed through to get food, so I know they were spending time together.”

“Kan…?” I look at him again. He seems afraid… I want to tell him that it’ll be okay, but if he really is the culprit, that’s a flat-out lie.

“Why’d you do it, Kan? Wanted to get home that badly? Was the storm too scary for you?” Rei questions him.

“K...Kan…” He’s visibly shaking.

“Rei, back off,” I say to him before turning back to Kan. “Kan… if you have something to say, we’ll listen.”

“Kan… Kan didn’t do it! He… couldn’t…” Tears begin to fall from Kan’s eyes and he brings his arms up over his face. 

“It’s okay,” I do my best to comfort him. Everyone else remains silent. “I think… we should take one last look at the case, from start to finish.”

“It all started last night, shortly before Mizuki’s death. Mizuki and the culprit were spending time together, possibly investigating the ship or just hanging out, while the storm was going on. They went to the arcade together at night.  
The two were in the back corner of the arcade when a particularly strong jolt of the ship caused a heavy arcade machine to fall over. It pinned Mizuki to the wall, injuring her, and the culprit grabbed onto the edge of it in an attempt to save her. Unfortunately, the culprit was too weak, and the arcade machine crushed her to death while the edge they grabbed ahold of scraped their hand. After processing what had happened, they began to make their way out of the arcade before noticing that there was blood on their shoes. They took their shoes off to avoid tracking blood any further from the scene of the crime.  
After this, the killer made their way to the nurse’s office to bandage their injured hand. They accidentally left the first-aid kit out and open, and didn’t realize a drop of blood had landed on the floor near the door.  
The next morning, when the storm had come to a halt, the culprit teamed up with Isao, Rei, and I to look for the body. When we found Mizuki’s corpse, the body discovery announcement didn’t play until after Rei walked over, being the fourth person including the culprit to see the corpse.  
Due to the size of the bloody footprints, the members of the search party, and the recently bandaged hand injury, we can conclude that the culprit of this case is none other than… Kan Tsukiyomi, the Ultimate Dog Groomer.”

After a short pause, Kan speaks. “Kan… couldn’t save her…” He sniffles.

“Aha, looks like we’ve got our confession.” Rei smirks again. I scowl at him.

“Puhuhuhu! Ready to vote, it seems! Now then, use the lever in front of you to make your selection! Who will be chosen as the blackened?” Monokuma ends our discussion.

“No, hold on. This isn’t fair,” Shōhei says. “If he was trying to save her, he’s not the culprit. It was an accident caused by the storm.”

“When did I say this was fair?” Monokuma smiles at Shōhei. “Whoever caused the death of another student becomes the blackened! Now, get your vote in before I punish you!” Shōhei reluctantly selects his vote, visibly frustrated.

I select my vote as well. This isn’t fair in the slightest… this whole game isn’t fair. Kan doesn’t deserve this. There’s nothing we can do and it’s frustrating me to no end.

Once all the votes are in, the slot machine pops up. The faces spin until they all land on Kan.

“Congratulations! You voted correctly!” Monokuma applauds us, but none of us are happy about it.

“Kan…” I look at him sympathetically.

He’s still shaking but manages to dry his tears for the moment. “Kan… no, I need to grow up and face this… K… I need to speak normal…”

“You don’t need to if you don’t want to…” I try to reassure him.

“N-no, I want to… K… I’m sorry… that h- that I couldn’t save Mizuki… I-I hope you guys can continue without me. Get out of here, I know you can do it!” Kan looks at all of us, tears welling up in his eyes again.

“It’s not your fault at all,” Shōhei says. “This game is incredibly unfair and you don’t deserve any of this.”

“I will do my best to continue for you, dear Kan.” Isao gives a sympathetic smile, sadness in his eyes.

Ko signs something to Kan. He nods in response, so I assume they taught him a little sign language during the time they spent together.

“I really don’t like this place,” Ayao frowns. “I wish there was something I could do, Kan. You’re so nice, and I know it’s not your fault!”

“This place is so damn unfair…” Takeshi crosses his arms and sighs, looking at the floor with a sad expression.

“I mean I don’t think the storm was ever strong enough to push an arcade machine over, but something tells me you’re not lying,” Rei comments, thankfully not making things worse for once.

Instead of saying something, I step down from my podium and walk over to Kan. I give him a hug, and he hugs me back, crying into my shoulder.

“Thank you, Seiki…” After releasing from my hug, he turns back to face everyone else. “Thank you, everyone. Ka- um… I think, maybe it’ll be okay. Even if, I have to die now… you’ll all be okay.” He gives a sad smile.

Monokuma interrupts the conversation with an overexaggerated yawn. “Are you finished? I’m getting bored! Let’s move on to the punishment already!”

No one says anything. My heart sinks.

“I’ve prepared a very special punishment for Kan Tsukiyomi, the Ultimate Dog Groomer!”

“Goodbye, everyone…” Kan’s voice is drenched in sadness. There really is nothing we can do to stop this…

“Let’s give it everything we’ve got! It’s… PUNISHMENT TIIIME!!”

[TRIGGER WARNING] (skip past the next line if you don’t want any spoilers, but please read if you want to be prepared for any potentially triggering content.)  
_being clawed, bitten, and killed by animals (fake ones but still)_

_KAN’S CANINE CATASTROPHE_

_Kan is dropped into a room resembling his talent room. Inside the bathing sink, there are six dirty Monodogs jumping around excitedly. Kan looks around the room for an escape but there is none, so he slowly approaches the sink._

_The Monodogs act like normal dogs, fairly excited to be bathed. Kan gets to work bathing them like he would any normal dogs, assuming that’s what he’s supposed to do._

_The actual Monokuma comes into view, standing in front of a dial with four settings. Only the current setting is in view, reading “NORMAL”. Monokuma reaches over and turns the dial to the next setting, revealed to be “ANNOYED”._

_The Monodogs in front of Kan begin to act annoyed, biting and scratching at him here and there as he attempts to bathe them. He manages to get the job done and sits them on the counter, grabbing towels to dry them. As he begins to dry them, Monokuma switches the dial up to the next setting, which reads “ANGRY”._

_The Monodogs start going out of their way to bite and scratch at Kan’s arms, their razor sharp teeth and claws doing significant damage to him. They tear up the towels he was trying to use to dry them. Arms injured and bleeding, Kan steps away from them, firmly shouting common commands that the Monodogs are not obeying. They stay where they are on the counter, growling at Kan as he slowly backs away, tears forming in his eyes._

_Finally, Monokuma clicks the dial up to the highest setting, “OUT FOR BLOOD”. The Monodogs instantly leap off the counter and chase after Kan, who races around the room trying to get away from them. Eventually they back him into a corner before jumping on him, scratching away with their teeth and claws, ripping out chunks of flesh and tearing him to shreds._

_Kan Tsukiyomi, the Ultimate Dog Groomer, is dead._

It’s awful to watch. Kan didn’t deserve any of this… neither did the past culprits, but this case was purely accidental. Just because he wasn’t physically strong enough to hold back the arcade machine, he was punished… and there was nothing we could do.

“Alright, I’m gonna take a closer look at my talent room. Who wants to come with?” Rei heads for the elevator. No one responds to him. The rest of us are still in shock from the execution. “Suit yourselves,” he says as he selects a floor inside the elevator, and the doors shut behind him.

Isao, Shōhei, Takeshi, and Ayao take the next elevator up. I stand there, staring blankly at the execution zone. The curtains are closed, so I can’t see the scene anymore, but I stare exactly where I last saw Kan.

He’s really gone…

Ko taps me on the shoulder and shows me their whiteboard. ‘We should go.’ I finally turn to face the elevator, seeing that everyone else has left and it’s come back down to collect us. I drag myself into the elevator with Ko and press the button for the first deck. It’s still fairly early in the day, but I need to go back to my cabin and sit down for a while.

“I’ll… talk to you later,” I say to Ko as we part ways on the first deck. They wave to me with a sad smile before I make my way into my cabin and sit on the bed.

If Rei is really the Mastermind… he just killed Kan for absolutely no reason. If he’s the Mastermind, he wouldn’t have needed to find matches somewhere on the ship to kill Hirai… but I still can’t figure out why he’d do it. I don’t know whether I’m fully convinced, but it’s starting to make more sense when I think about it…

I lean back on my bed and stare at the ceiling, trying to clear my head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry


	20. Chapter 4: Post-Trial Scenes

After what feels like a few hours of lying on my bed, not sleeping but not feeling fully awake either, I finally drag myself out of my cabin. I take the elevator down to the second deck, grabbing an apple from the kitchen and not seeing anyone else on the way. When I pass through the dining hall, I notice the new key on the table. Its symbol seems to be a silhouette of a person dancing. For the Ultimate Dancer, I assume.

I eat my apple on my way to the fourth deck. I enter the library. There’s no one around…

I take a seat at one of the computers and open up the map. The skull icons marking where the victims' deaths were appear, more of them this time. Last time I saw them was with Hirai, and there were only the first two… I click through the rest.

_Fumie Fukuma_   
_Third Victim_

_Hirai Ichizo_   
_Fourth Victim_

_Mizuki Nakahara_   
_Fifth Victim_

So many people have died… it’s depressing to think about, and incredibly frustrating to not know what I can do to stop it. If only there was a way to stop the Mastermind from controlling us, get them to release us…

Is it really Rei? I don’t think there’s any way for me to get through to him. If he truly is the Mastermind… if I just told him to stop all this, he’d probably laugh at me. He likely wouldn’t stop until he died… and there’s no way I’m killing him. Not only can I not imagine myself ever killing someone, but if he’s not really the Mastermind, then I’ll get executed.

Plus, there’s something telling me he’s lying. I can’t quite put my finger on it…

I sigh and shut down the computer before standing up and walking around the library. I scan the titles of the books to see if there’s anything that might lead me somewhere. It seems to be a variety of fiction and non-fiction targeted towards the age group of the people on the ship… The thought crosses my mind that the contents of one of these books could give me a clue, or there could be one with a false cover that seems like a normal book on the outside but answers several of my questions on the inside… but I don’t know if I have the patience to read through the entire library. Maybe I’ll ask someone to help me with it later…

After some time, I head back up to my cabin for the evening. The sun is starting to set, so I just crash on my bed and fall asleep before the nighttime announcement.

…

Takeshi lightly knocks on the slightly ajar door to the game designer’s talent room.

“Come on in,” Rei says from inside. Takeshi pushes the door open and enters the room.

“Rei.” He approaches the desk Rei is sitting at in the center of the room. The walls are a dark shade of green and there are tables around the room with various materials to plan out different types of games.

“What can I do for you, Mr. Stalker?” Rei leans back in his chair and faces Takeshi.

“I’m not--” Takeshi sighs. “Nevermind. I was just… thinking about the Mastermind. You seem to be the one to always bring it up, so I thought I’d talk to you about it.”

“I see. I was actually just thinking about that… it’s not Seiki. Definitely not, it’s way too obvious. I think the Mastermind set it up to look like Seiki was the Mastermind, pin the blame on her.”

“Really? Who… do you think it is then?” Takeshi leans on the desk and looks at Rei inquisitively.

“Shōhei. And Isao. I think they’re working together,” Rei says.

“Really…?” Takeshi looks uncertain, but deep in thought.

“Absolutely. Their alibis for every case are that they were together at the time of death, they rarely eat with us or spend time with anyone besides each other… They’re definitely suspicious.” Rei seems completely sure of himself.

“Hmm…” Takeshi processes what Rei said, recalling every interaction with the two of them that he can remember.

“Actually… I didn’t want to tell anyone this, but…” Rei leans in and lowers his voice. “Isao’s the one who gave me the matches I used to kill Hirai. He told me to do it.”

“What?” Takeshi’s eyes widen in shock. “That’s… hard to believe…”

“Well, it’s the truth.” Rei leans back in his chair again. “So, you have any Mastermind theories? Anything else you came here for?”

“Not really… I just wanted to hear your thoughts, I guess. I’ll… see you around.” Takeshi waves and heads for the door.

“Seeya, Takeshi.” Rei gets back to work on what he was doing on his computer before Takeshi came in.

…

“Aw boo hoo, they’re all upset because their friend died and it ‘wasn’t his fault’... I told them how the game worked and they’re still mad? He caused her death so he was punished! It doesn’t matter if he didn’t mean to, I told them the rules!” The Mastermind rants to the statue in the center of the room.

“Ohh Junko…” They wrap an arm around the statue. “Just one more murder case, and then I’ll be just like you… I’ll come out during the trial, and they’ll all be so shocked, and they’ll all feel so much despair to know that I, their friend, planned this entire thing! Hahaha, upupupu!!”


	21. Chapter 5: Day 1

I’m… somewhere on the ship. I see… pictures of faces… more than ten? Maybe fifteen? I don’t have time to count them.

There are two other people in the room… they’re talking. I can’t make out what they’re saying, or who they are… they feel familiar…

_"Good morning, everyone! It is now 7am and nighttime is officially over! Time to rise and shine! Get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day!"_

I wake up to the morning announcement, in the bed in my cabin. Was that… a dream? It felt so real, but so distant… it was hard to make out any details, and the memories of it are rapidly fading the more I try to think about it. I shrug it off and get out of bed.

As I’m leaving my cabin, the memories from yesterday come rushing into my mind. Kan… he was one of the people I’d spent the most time with here. He felt like a little brother… I never had a close relationship with my own brother growing up, at least from the years that I remember. It does make me wonder whether he’s alright…

As hard as it is, I know I have to continue. I take the elevator down to the second deck and get myself some cereal. When I sit down at the table in the dining hall, I see Shōhei’s talent room key still there. I wonder if he’ll come get it soon…

As if on cue with my thoughts, Shōhei and Isao come through the dining hall.

“Good morning, Seiki.” Isao smiles at me.

“Morning…” I respond, emotionally tired. 

“Morning.” Shōhei approaches the table. “Oh is that one for me…?” He picks up the talent room key to look at it.

“Seems like it,” I say.

“We’ll have to check it out later and I can see your beautiful dancing in a room designed for it,” Isao comments. Shōhei nods.

The two enter the kitchen together. A few minutes later they come back out, Shōhei carrying a plate of toast. Takeshi arrives in the dining hall on his own, walking through and into the kitchen without greeting anyone.

Shōhei and Isao take seats across the table from me. We eat in silence, Takeshi joining shortly with a bowl of cereal as well. He sits a couple seats away, seeming just as depressed and isolated as is usual for him lately.

“Are you two gonna check out Shōhei’s talent room after breakfast?” I ask.

“Yes, that’s what we were planning to do. You’re welcome to join us, if you’d like,” Isao invites me.

“If you don’t mind… I don’t really have anything else to do today,” I accept.

Takeshi looks over at us, clearly overhearing our conversation. Isao turns to face him.

“You can come along too, if you’d like.” He smiles at Takeshi.

“Um… sure,” Takeshi hesitantly accepts. It’s hard to tell whether it’s due to him still mourning Matt or if he’s acting strange…

Shōhei gives Isao a look as if to say _why did you invite them_ , but doesn’t seem to mind enough to ask us not to come with them.

After we all finish eating, the four of us take the elevator down to the third deck and Shōhei unlocks his talent room. I notice the light is on inside Rei’s talent room.

We enter Shōhei’s talent room. It’s a dance studio style room with dark blueish grey walls and large mirrors covering one wall. There’s a CD player set up in the corner with a rack of CDs next to it, and a couple of chairs on the other side of the room. Shōhei walks through the room, looking around.

I take a look at the CDs. I don’t recognize any of them… most of them seem to be piano music. Shōhei walks up beside me to look at them as well, seeming to recognize all of them as music he likes to dance to.

“You should dance for us,” Isao suggests.

“Um… I’m not sure…” Shōhei seems nervous.

“Your dancing is beautiful, I have no doubt they’d love to see it,” Isao encourages him.

“If you’re the Ultimate Dancer, I’m sure it’s great. You don’t have to worry,” I reassure him.

“Alright, just for a bit…” Shōhei selects a CD from the rack and puts it in the CD player, taking off his scarf and setting it down next to it. Isao and I walk over to the chairs, where Takeshi is sitting alone, and join him.

The music starts with a soft, slow piano tune. Shōhei moves fluidly along with the music, his movements becoming more energetic when the beat picks up in the song. It seems to be a routine he’s put a lot of work into and memorized over a long time of practicing it. It’s some sort of contemporary dance style, I think… I wouldn’t know how to describe different styles of dance. He seems to be completely connected to the music, almost forgetting that we were here watching him. After a few minutes, the song ends, and the three of us applaud him.

“That was beautiful…” Isao comments, admiration in his tone.

“You’re really good at dancing. No wonder you’re an Ultimate,” I compliment.

He faces the three of us, eyes widening as he remembers we were watching him. “U-uh… thank you…” He reaches up to fiddle with his scarf before remembering he took it off, and walking back over to the corner to put it back on. While he’s there, he takes the CD back out and puts it away.

“I… think I should go,” Takeshi stands up. “Your dancing was great. I’ll see you guys later.” He leaves the room quickly.

I watch him leave before standing up myself. “Would you two like to join me for coffee?”

“Yeah, yes, I need coffee.” Shōhei turns back and walks across the room towards us.

“I don’t drink coffee, but I’ll come along.” Isao stands up as well and the three of us leave the room. Out in the hallway, I notice the light on in Takeshi’s talent room… I guess that’s where he went. I still don’t know what’s in there…

Shōhei, Isao, and I take the elevator down to the fifth deck. Shōhei and I walk into the café to get ourselves some coffee while Isao sits down. Shortly after, we join him with our drinks.

We sit there in silence. I look out the window to notice the rain from the storm has stopped completely, and it’s back to the sunny sky over endless ocean that we’ve seen since we first got here. I take a sip of my coffee, thinking about the previous times I’ve come to this café with others. Hirai and Hitomi were the other two coffee drinkers… it’s frustrating that all I can think about is death, but that’s most of what’s been going on around here. There has to be some point where it ends, some point where a few of us get out, some point where we find out for certain who’s behind it all… but how much more death do we have to witness before we get to that point?

“How are you three today? Enjoying the cruise?” Monokuma appears on a nearby table, breaking the silence. It’s like the Mastermind knew I was considering asking Monokuma about what I was thinking…

“Not enjoying all the death,” Isao responds to the bear, frowning.

“Aww, you’re no fun!” Monokuma hops over to stand on the table we’re sitting at.

“Monokuma, I was wondering about something.” I decide to voice my thoughts.

“What’s up, Seiki?” He faces me.

“There has to be some point where this stops, right? A class trial wouldn’t work if there was only one or two people left alive. Does it stop then, or is there some sort of limit?”

“Oh! That’s an interesting question, I’m glad you asked! This killing game goes on until there are two people left alive! The last two remaining students will graduate together! Or until I get bored enough to kick you guys off the ship, we’ll see how that goes!” The bear grins at me.

“Until you’re… bored enough?” Shōhei questions.

“Yep! Anyways, I’m gonna go check on someone else, enjoy your coffee!” Monokuma hops off the table and walks away.

“Two remaining…” Isao repeats a moment after Monokuma leaves, looking down at the table.

“I don’t think we need to worry about that. I was just interested in the limits of this game, because the more we know about it, the closer we can get to finding a way out with more than just one or two of us alive.” I take another sip of my coffee, almost finished.

“I’m unsure what ‘kicking us off the ship’ implies… assuming ‘graduation’ means we get a safe trip to land, kicking us off could mean we just get dumped in the water.” Shōhei fidgets with the end of his scarf as he expresses his concern, before lifting his cup and downing the last bit of coffee inside.

“Maybe there are lifeboats or something… in any case, I think the best course of action might be to wait out any upcoming motives and let the Mastermind get bored of us. We could practice swimming for long periods of time in the pool, in case we don’t get a lifeboat or anything to get us to land,” I suggest. I look out at the water, and as usual, I don’t see any land on the horizon… I guess we’d have to pick a direction and swim, hoping for the best.

“I… I’m afraid I have a terrible phobia of the ocean… swimming, in general…” Isao looks out at the ocean. By the look in his eyes I can tell the thought of having to swim out there for an extended period of time terrifies him.

“I’m not sure if we’ll have much of a choice. If possible, I’d like to help you get over your phobia, so we can be prepared…” I can tell Isao’s not gonna like this, but maybe we can get him used to the water at least a little bit in the pool.

Shōhei looks at Isao sympathetically. It seems like he knows why Isao has this phobia… I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve shared personal stories from their pasts with each other, considering how much time they’ve spent together here. I don’t know what sort of ocean or swimming related trauma Isao might’ve gone through, but I hope we can help him move past it.

“I-I’m not sure… I suppose we’ll have to figure something out.” Isao glances at Shōhei before looking down at the table.

I finish my coffee and stand up. “I’m gonna walk around for a bit, maybe we can gather the others tomorrow and go to the pool together. Isao… you can decide whether you want to try swimming or not, but I think you should at least come with us.”

“Okay,” Isao nods. “See you later, Seiki.” He smiles at me.

“Goodbye, Seiki,” Shōhei says.

“See you two later.” I put my coffee cup away before leaving.

I take the elevator back up to the third deck. There’s something I was wondering about here… a room that’s been unlocked since not long after we arrived here, but I’ve never been inside. I walk through the hallway and approach the door with the camera symbol on it, seeing that the light is still on inside. I raise my arm and knock.

Shortly after knocking, Takeshi opens the door quite narrowly, sticking his head out. “Oh… hi, Seiki.”

“Hello, Takeshi. I was thinking about how your talent room has been unlocked for a long time, but I’ve never seen it. Do you mind if I come inside?”

“Um… just a moment.” Takeshi closes the door, leaving me standing there. Less than a minute later, he comes back and opens the door wider than before, allowing me to see inside. “Come in.” He moves out of the way and I enter the room.

It’s a fairly simple room with green walls and white furniture. There’s a table with a few chairs, some cameras and notebooks on top of it. On the opposite side of the room, there’s a large wardrobe with a combination lock keeping it shut.

Takeshi takes a seat at the table. “There’s… not much, but I like spending time here…”

“What’s in the wardrobe?” I approach the wardrobe, taking a closer look at the lock.

“Oh, that? It’s been in my room back at home for a long time. I never knew the combination, so I don’t know what’s inside, or why they brought it h… why am I saying this… the only reason for that lie was to hide the truth from Matt, and since you know, there’s no point in lying about it, is there? It’s my collection,” Takeshi explains.

“Collection? You mean…”

“Things that remind me of him, things that belonged to him, pictures of him… it’s my Matt collection.” He gives a sad smile as he explains. “I started it five years ago when we met, and it’s grown a lot since then. In a way, I’m proud of it, but it’s also… weird… that’s why I didn’t want him to know about it.” His smile fades completely as he continues to talk.

“Would I be able to see it?” Considering he’s the Ultimate Stalker, I’m not sure if I’ll like what’s inside… but I can’t help my curiosity.

“NO!! I-I mean, uh… I’d rather not show anyone. It’s kind of… personal, you know?” With the way he reacted, maybe I really don’t want to see what’s inside…

“Alright… I’ll respect your privacy,” I agree. This seems to calm him down.

“Thank you… I know I’ll have to show someone at some point, but I don’t know if I’m ready… Ayao was talking about taking me to a therapist if we get out of here, which is fair enough. So I’d probably have to at least tell them about what’s in there…” He looks at the floor while he speaks.

“Yeah. I hope that helps…” I take one last glance around the room. Not sure what else to do here, I decide to leave. “I’ll… see you later, then.”

Takeshi nods. “Bye.”

I leave the room and walk onto the elevator, thinking about where to go next. It’s getting into the evening now… I decide to go back to the kitchen to get some food. Just as I’m about to press the button for the second deck, Ko comes out of their talent room and rushes onto the elevator. They wave to me and press the second deck button themselves.

The two of us both walk into the kitchen. When we get there, Rei is just heading out.

“Good timing. If you two want mac and cheese, I don’t have to put that away.” He gestures to a pot on the stove and walks past us to leave before we can respond. Sure enough, there’s just enough left for two servings. We each take some and walk out to the dining hall.

“I wonder why he made enough for three if he was eating alone…” I think aloud as I sit down. Ko shrugs as they take a seat next to me.

The two of us start to eat. I think about what sort of topics I could start a conversation on, when I look over to see Ko looking deep in thought as they chew.

“Do you have something on your mind?”

They nod in response and take out their whiteboard to write to me. ‘Seeing Rei just now reminded me of it. He told me that he was the Mastermind, and he said no one would believe me. But I feel like you might believe me, Seiki.’

“Wh…” He told Ko that too? “He told me that, during the last motive he came to visit me in my cabin. He said I was the only person he was telling and that no one would believe me, but if he told you too… it makes me wonder if he told anyone else that, if he told all of us one on one… and _why_.”

They wipe off the whiteboard and write again. ‘He told me just today… you’re the first person I’ve talked to about it. I don’t know what we’re even supposed to do knowing this, does he want us to try to kill him to end the killing game?’

“I think he’s lying,” I state. Ko looks at me with their head tilted inquisitively. “I think he’s trying to mess with our heads by spreading a false rumour that he’s the Mastermind. Maybe he is trying to get one of us to kill him, to keep the killing game going. He’s been enjoying this since Rio’s death, for some twisted reason. I wouldn’t be surprised if he wanted to get our hopes up by telling us that he’s the Mastermind, letting us think the killing game ends when he dies, and then it just keeps going.”

Ko takes another bite of mac and cheese, taking a moment to think about what I just said. Then, they write me another message. ‘Do you think he knows who the Mastermind is?’

“I don’t know… I think he could, maybe he’s even working with them and they told him to do this. Or he could just be messing with us for no reason other than his own entertainment. I can’t figure out what type of person he is…” The conversation ends at that and we eat together in silence, both likely thinking about the same thing. _Why_ is Rei doing what he’s doing?

After we’re finished eating, we bring our dishes back to the kitchen. I get a glass of water and Ko waves to me before they leave. I decide to stay here for a moment while I drink my water, still thinking about how Rei’s been acting lately… I consider talking to him or one of the others about it, but I’m unsure what the best course of action is. If he’s told everyone else that he’s the Mastermind, then someone could be planning to kill him… but if he hasn’t, then spreading the rumour further could make things worse.

When I’m finished my glass of water, I take the elevator back up to the first deck.

_“It is now 10pm. As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then... Sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite...”_

The announcement plays when I’m in the hallway on my way back to my cabin. I enter my cabin and go to bed almost right away, managing to quiet down my thoughts enough to sleep.


	22. Chapter 5: Day 2

_"Good morning, everyone! It is now 7am and nighttime is officially over! Time to rise and shine! Get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day!"_

I’m too tired to get up right away, so I sleep in a little. About half an hour later, I get up, get dressed, and leave my cabin. I take the elevator to the second deck.

When I get to the dining hall, Shōhei, Isao, and Ayao are sitting together. Shōhei and Ayao are both eating cereal.

“Good morning, Seiki,” Isao greets.

“Morning, Seiki!!” Ayao waves excitedly. Shōhei waves as well, midway through a bite of cereal.

“Good morning,” I reply. I make my way past them and into the kitchen, getting myself some cereal as well before joining them at the table.

“We were thinking of practicing swimming today,” Shōhei says.

“Swimming!? I wanna go swimming!!” Ayao exclaims.

“We were talking about possible ways to get off this ship with more than just one or two of us alive, and one possibility that came up was if we were to be kicked off of the boat and into the water with no lifeboat to bring us to land,” I explain our conversation from the previous day to Ayao. “So we’re planning to practice swimming for long periods of time in the pool here. Hopefully, if that does happen, we have enough time to practice beforehand…”

“Ooh, that makes sense! I like swimming, but I can’t do it for very long without getting tired, so we can all practice together and make it to land!!” Ayao seems excited by the idea.

Isao looks nervous. He still doesn’t seem to like the idea of going in the water, but maybe he’ll try at least a little bit today…

Once we’re all finished eating, we part ways. I go up to my cabin to change into a swimsuit while Ayao is gathering Takeshi, Rei, and Ko, whereas Shōhei and Isao plan to meet us there. I take the elevator down to the fourth deck with everyone else.

When we get there, Isao and Shōhei are talking to each other by the chairs a little ways away from the pool. They turn to wave and greet us.

“Cannonball!!!!!” Ayao screams, throwing her towel off to the side as she bolts towards the pool, jumping in and making a huge splash. The splash reaches the rest of us by the entrance, but Isao and Shōhei are far enough that it doesn’t hit them.

Ko smiles and walks over to the pool, entering the water much more calmly. Ayao is excitedly swimming around as Takeshi and Rei both approach the pool, getting in as well. I use the ladder steps off to one side, and shortly after I get in the water, Shōhei comes to join us. It looks like Isao is staying out of the pool, taking a seat in one of the chairs.

“Isao!! Come on, swim with us!!” Ayao holds herself up on the edge of the pool, yelling over to Isao.

“U-uh, I’d really rather not…” Isao gulps as he looks at the water.

“Come ooon, it’s fun!! Please please please please??” Ayao attempts to convince him.

“Ayao…” Shōhei swims up next to her and speaks to her quietly enough that I can’t hear, presumably explaining Isao’s phobia to her.

“Oh!! I’m sorry Isao! I didn’t know you were afraid of the water!!” Ayao shouts her apology across the room. “It’s really not all that scary though, just kinda wet, see?” She splashes some water up over the edge of the pool, not nearly close enough to hit Isao.

Isao looks nervous and Shōhei talks to Ayao quietly again. She nods in understanding.

“Sorry again!! I won’t ask you to swim with us!! Thank you for coming anyways to spend time with us!!” She grins at Isao.

“Yes, I’m enjoying myself.” Isao smiles back at her, seeming relieved that she’s no longer asking him to swim.

Ayao ducks underwater and starts swimming around the pool, popping up to splash Takeshi. They start playing around and splashing each other, Ayao actually managing to make him smile a little. Ko is swimming laps while Rei is sitting on a pool float, and Shōhei and I stay at one side of the pool.

Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves. It’s good to have a nice moment like this in light of all the death and despair that we’ve had to deal with since we got here. It reminds me of the fact that we’re all just kids, and we really shouldn’t have to be dealing with this… not that anyone should, but I just wish we could relax and hang out like this without having to worry about what the next motive might be or when the next murder might take place.

After spending a while together in the pool, we collectively decide to get out of the water. I grab a towel and start to dry myself when Ko approaches me, a towel wrapped around themselves and their whiteboard in their hands.

‘Do you think we should talk to Rei about what he told us both? Or tell someone else?’ They gesture to Rei as they show me the message.

“Maybe later,” I quietly suggest. “Everyone’s happy right now… I think it’s important, but it can wait for now.”

“What a nice bonding moment that was!” Startled by the sound of Monokuma’s voice, I turn to face where the bear has just appeared.

“Monokuma!” Ayao steps back and glares at him.

“That’s me! Anyways, I thought your moment here at the pool was so nice and heartwarming that it made me want to introduce the next motive a little early! So instead of waiting until next morning, you’re all required to come to the theatre in exactly one hour from now to hear your next motive!”

“What!?” Isao voices the shock that most of us are likely feeling.

“You heard me! Exactly an hour from now, that should be more than enough time to get dried off and changed! Seeya then!” Monokuma leaves the room before any of us can respond.

I sigh and furrow my brow as I watch him go. Everyone else seems to be complaining to each other a little, and most of us leave the pool area to take the elevator back up to our cabins and get changed.

After changing back into my regular clothes, I take a seat on my bed and dry my hair a little more. The hour is going by pretty quickly… once my hair is mostly dry, I leave my cabin and head to the theatre to wait for the motive announcement.

When I get there, the only person inside so far is Rei. I sit down pretty far away from him. I can tell he acknowledges my presence but he doesn’t say anything. It’s an odd silence… luckily, it’s not long before others start to arrive. Once everyone has taken a seat, Monokuma appears on stage.

“Good, everyone’s here! It’s time for your next motive! This time, it’s another reward for if you get away with murder that you’ll receive alongside graduation! We’ve captured the Ultimate Spirit Medium, who’s talent allows him to channel the spirit of any dead person! You can choose any human who’s dead, someone from history, someone you knew, someone close to you that you lost- anyone, and talk to them through him, just like they’re back from the dead! But you gotta get away with murder first, so happy killing! Upupupu!!” As always, Monokuma disappears just as quickly as he appeared.

“Like they’re back from the dead…” Isao repeats, processing the bear’s words. He looks deep in thought, almost like he has someone in mind.

“Anyone? We could talk to our friends that we’ve lost here…” Ayao thinks aloud. “I miss Rio, they were a really good friend, it would be nice to talk to them again!”

“You willing to kill for it?” Rei stands up and approaches where the rest of us are sitting.

“No! I don’t think… I don’t wanna… kill someone…” Ayao looks upset at the thought.

I think about the motive in relation to Kan. We spent a lot of time here together, and it’s been hard to move on from his death. I miss him a lot, but I’m not going to kill someone just for a chance to talk to him again…

I look over at Takeshi. He’s probably thinking about Matt for this motive… he’s looking at the floor and his facial expression is hard to read. He seems to notice me looking, and turns to face me before looking around at everyone else. It seems I wasn’t the only one looking to see his reaction.

“Why are you all…” He furrows his brows as he glances between our faces.

“You did admit that if Matt was alive for the third motive, you would’ve killed,” Rei recalls.

“Takeshi’s not gonna kill anyone!” Ayao jumps to his defence. “I know he misses Matt, but he’s not gonna kill, I know it! I trust him!”

“I… don’t care anymore.” Takeshi sighs and stands up, walking out of the theatre.

“If you won’t trust him, then I’ll stay with him! I won’t let him be alone from this point forward, he’s not gonna kill anyone! I know he wouldn’t kill me, so you don’t have to worry!” Ayao seems determined to reassure us that Takeshi won’t be the next culprit. With that, she runs out of the theatre presumably to catch up with Takeshi.

Shortly after, Shōhei and Isao leave together, quietly talking about the motive. Rei leaves on his own, and when Ko and I are the only two left in the theatre, they approach me while writing something on their whiteboard.

‘Do you think we should go talk to Rei now? I think he’s probably going to his talent room.’

“Yeah… I guess now’s as good a time as any.” The two of us leave the theatre and take the elevator down to the third deck.

Ko was right in their assumption of where Rei headed, and we find him in his talent room.

“Rei, there’s something we need to talk about.” We stand by the open door to his talent room, where he’s sitting at a desk in the center of the room.

“Oh, and what might that be?” He asks, gesturing for us to come further into the room.

I approach the desk, Ko beside me, and speak in a somewhat quiet tone. “You know exactly what I’m talking about. What you told the both of us, and maybe others.”

Rei looks at me, a confused expression on his face. “I don’t seem to remember… when was this?”

“You told me that you were the Mastermind during the last motive, and you told Ko the same thing yesterday.” Ko nods to affirm my statement and I cross my arms and look at Rei.

“What? I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He laughs it off a little as if he thinks it’s some sort of joke.

“Don’t give me that, we both remember it clearly…” I wasn’t expecting him to react like this. It’s frustrating, I know what he said, why won’t he admit it?

Ko holds up their whiteboard to Rei and I lean over to read it as well. ‘You can’t just pretend you didn’t say it. I know you told me and Seiki, but what I don’t know is why, or if you told anyone else.’

“Ko, I didn’t even see you yesterday besides for a moment when you two were coming to the kitchen for dinner. And Seiki, I didn’t see you during the last motive at all.” Rei states these things matter-of-factly.

“You brought me a sandwich!” Why is he acting like this?

“Why would I bring you a sandwich? We never really got along,” Rei brushes off my words as if they’re nonsensical. “Anyways, I don’t know why you guys are accusing me of this. I was always curious about the Mastermind, but I never claimed to be them.”

I sigh in frustration before accepting that he wouldn’t budge on this. His personality is so frustrating… I turn to Ko and shake my head a little before turning to leave the room. Ko follows me out.

“What, no goodbye?” Rei calls after us, to which neither of us respond.

Out in the hallway, I turn to face Ko. “We should talk…” I look around. There’s no one here but… I decide to head into the archery room for guaranteed privacy.

In the archery room, I face Ko. “He was blatantly lying to us…”

Ko nods in response, looking confused and a little worried.

“I’m not all that surprised that he lied… with how he told each of us that no one would believe him, why would he admit to it that easily when more than one of us were together? He’s just trying to mess with us, and it’s frustrating. It makes me think he’s definitely not the Mastermind, though… but I have no idea who it could be.”

Ko thinks for a moment before writing down a response. ‘I don’t know either… I still think it could be him. Maybe he’s trying to throw us off by acting like he’s pretending to be the Mastermind, when he really is, if that makes sense.’

I nod as I read their message, but there’s still something in my mind telling me that’s wrong. There’s still a chance as well that the Mastermind isn’t any of us, and they’re hiding somewhere in the boat…

Ko writes another message. ‘I think I’d like to practice some archery to get my mind off things. You’re welcome to stay here with me, if you’d like.’

“I think I will, thanks.” I take a seat off to the side of the room while Ko grabs their bow and arrows, getting in position to shoot. I watch them for a while, still amazed by their incredible aim.

The afternoon passes quickly. Ko spends the entire time practicing archery, and I stay where I am, absentmindedly watching them and thinking about the same things that’ve been on my mind for a while now; why we’re on this ship, who the Mastermind is, how awful it is that this many deaths have happened so quickly… Eventually, Ko moves to put their archery equipment away and walks over to me, writing on their whiteboard.

‘I’m getting hungry, wanna go get dinner together?’

“Sure,” I respond, standing up and following them out of the room.

We make our way to the second deck and towards the kitchen where we hear several voices from inside. I open the door and the two of us enter.

“I have a knife!!” Ayao shouts enthusiastically. I notice that she does, in fact, have a knife, and she’s making her way to a cutting board on the counter where several peeled carrots are ready to be chopped. She begins to chop them up into little chunks.

“Oh, Seiki, Ko, hi,” Shōhei greets us, holding a bowl of chopped up potatoes. “We’re making stew.”

I look around the kitchen to observe the stew-making process. Isao is stirring something in a pot and Takeshi is sitting on the floor near where Ayao is chopping carrots.

“It smells amazing,” I note, and Ko nods in agreement.

“Oh, thanks… we’ve been working together on it, there’ll be enough for everyone. You two can wait out in the dining hall, it’ll be ready fairly soon.” After speaking to us, Shōhei turns around and walks to where Isao is standing. He pours the potatoes into the pot and Isao stirs them in.

I decide to follow what Shōhei said and exit the kitchen, taking a seat at the table. Ko sits next to me and we sit there in silence, hearing sounds from the kitchen every now and then.

A short while later, Ayao comes out of the kitchen holding a stack of six bowls. She sets them down on the table.

“It’s just about ready! There’s seven of us, three in the kitchen, three out here… I’ll go get Rei!” She begins to walk out of the dining hall before abruptly turning around. “Wait, I’m supposed to be staying with Takeshi!” She forgets the idea of getting Rei and runs back into the kitchen. If there’s only six bowls, why would she think of Rei joining us, anyways? Did she miss a bowl in the kitchen?

A moment after Ayao leaves, Shōhei comes out holding the pot of stew, Isao following behind him. He places it in the center of the table and takes a seat before grabbing a bowl and dishing up some stew.

I follow suit and dish up some for myself. Takeshi and Ayao come back out of the kitchen and sit, getting themselves food as well.

The food tastes great. “Thank you, to everyone who helped make this,” I say.

“You’re welcome!! It was fun to help!!” Ayao grins at me before taking another bite of her own food.

“I enjoyed helping as well,” Isao says. I notice that he doesn’t have any stew…

“Isao, are you not going to eat?” I ask.

“Oh, uh… I ate already, I’m not hungry right now,” he explains. It seems a little strange, but I decide to leave him be.

Between bites, Shōhei seems to remember something. “Isao and I were thinking about putting on a show tomorrow.”

“A show??” Ayao immediately looks interested.

“Oh, yes- since the both of us have performance-related talents, we figured we could do something of a talent show. Not a very long one, with just the two of us, but it would be a fun way to spend the afternoon,” Isao explains.

“We’re thinking it’ll start at noon. We haven’t decided who’s going first, yet,” Shōhei adds.

“Ooh, that sounds fun!! Takeshi, we should go!!” Ayao excitedly tugs on Takeshi’s sleeve. He looks up from his meal.

“Yeah, sure…” he tiredly agrees, which makes Ayao even more excited.

Ko slides their whiteboard across the table to Shōhei and Isao and I peek over to see what it says. ‘I’d love to come, that sounds fun.’

“I’ll come too,” I say. “It’s always nice to get our minds off of the killing game.” As soon as the words leave my mouth, I get this horrible feeling that the happiness won’t last long. Hopefully we can at least have this show…

The rest of the dinner is fairly quiet, small conversations here and there as each of us finish our meals. After Shōhei is done eating, he stands up.

“I’ll tell Rei that there’s stew and see if he wants any.” He leaves the dining hall and heads for the elevator.

Takeshi and Ayao leave together after bringing their dishes back to the kitchen. I do the same, going to the elevator on my own afterwards.

I head down to the fifth deck and make myself a cup of tea in the café. I sit down to watch the sun setting over the calm ocean, managing to relax my mind for the most part.

Besides the motive announcement being a painful reminder of the situation we’re all in, I had a nice time spending the day with everyone. Swimming together, watching Ko practice archery, and sharing a meal with almost everyone… it was nice. I wish we could continue like that, without having to worry about the threat of murder from our own friends.

When I’m finished my tea, I take the elevator back up to the first deck. As I’m walking through the hallway, Ayao comes running out of Takeshi’s room, arms full of blankets.

“Hi Seiki!! We’re having a sleepover in my cabin, wanna join?” Ayao stops when she sees me and grins at me. While she’s talking to me, Takeshi walks out of his cabin behind her, holding a pillow.

“Oh, no thanks.” I’d rather sleep on my own, even if there is a chance of someone killing tonight and leaving me without an alibi…

“Alright! Goodnight, Seiki! Seeya tomorrow at Shōhei and Isao’s show!!” She resumes running through the hallway into her own cabin, Takeshi following behind her.

“Goodnight,” I say to the two before entering my own cabin.

_“It is now 10pm. As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then... Sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite...”_

The announcement plays while I’m changing into my pajamas. I get into bed and slowly drift off to sleep.

An unknown amount of time later, I sense some movement in my room. What… was that? I try to wake myself up enough to look around the room. It takes me a minute to become fully conscious, but there doesn’t seem to be anything strange about my cabin… did someone sneak in? I probably would’ve been able to hear them… I turn on the light to look around my cabin, just to be sure. Nothing seems to have changed, there’s no one here… the door is still closed… Was it something in a dream?

I decide to brush it off and try to get back to sleep. It takes me a while, now saddled with the fear of someone sneaking into my room and killing me. I’d like to think I can trust everyone here, besides Rei… but I don’t think Rei would kill someone at this point. Eventually I manage to drift back off to sleep.


	23. Chapter 5: Day 3

I sleep through the morning announcement, hearing it but not fully waking up. About an hour later I finally drag myself out of bed to see it’s 8am, and I get dressed and leave my cabin. I take the elevator down to the second deck.

As I enter the dining hall, Ayao is heading out of the kitchen holding a large plate of waffles.

“Good morning, Seiki! I helped Shōhei make food again!!” She puts the plate on the table.

“Good morning,” I greet. Takeshi and Shōhei come out of the kitchen and we all sit and eat together.

“We’ve decided that Isao will be performing first,” Shōhei mentions. “Right now he’s in his talent room with Ko getting his props ready to bring up to the theatre. I’ll be joining to help set up the stage after breakfast.”

“Does he need more help? I can help!!” Ayao enthusiastically offers her assistance.

“That would be great,” Shōhei says.

“I’ll help too,” Takeshi adds, not looking up from his meal.

“I can as well,” I offer. “I don’t have any other plans for the morning.”

“Thank you all, your help will be appreciated.” Shōhei smiles at us before continuing to eat.

[TRIGGER WARNING] (skip past the next line if you don’t want any spoilers, but please read if you want to be prepared for any potentially triggering content.)  
 _activation of a trap, axe slicing into the side of a head_

Once we’re all finished our waffles, we take the elevator down to the third deck and go to Isao’s talent room. He and Ko are starting to lift a large trunk of what I assume to be magic supplies, but Ko is struggling to lift it.

“Here, let me help.” Shōhei walks ahead of us and takes Ko’s place, helping Isao lift the trunk.

“Ah, thank you, Shōhei.” Isao smiles at him. They begin to walk towards the door and the rest of us move out of the way to let them exit the room.

“Are you all here to help?” Isao asks, pausing halfway out the door.  
“Yes,” I respond.

“Thank you very much,” he smiles. “If one of you could come with us and press the buttons for the elevator, that would be wonderful. And if some of you could grab one of those tables over there to bring up, that would be amazing.”

Ko walks over to them, quickly scribbling on their whiteboard. ‘I can help with the elevator.’ The three of them leave and I turn back to the room to face the tables.

“Let’s bring this one!!” Ayao selects a table and lifts one side of it, Takeshi walking over to lift the other side. It seems like they can handle it.

“I’ll help with the door and elevator,” I offer, and the three of us make our way out of the room as well.

As we’re walking through the hallway, I notice Rei standing in the doorway of his talent room, leaning on the door frame.

“So, Isao’s doing a magic show?” He asks.

“Yeah,” I respond. “Shōhei will be dancing afterwards, too.”

“Sounds fun. Maybe I’ll come watch.” He turns back into his talent room and closes the door.

As promised, I open the elevator door for Takeshi and Ayao, and the three of us head up to the second deck to bring the table into the theatre. They make their way up the stairs at one side of the stage and set the table down near the center of the stage.

“Thank you all very much for helping,” Isao smiles charmingly at everyone. “I’ve got it from here. It’s not much longer until showtime, so I’ll finish up getting ready here and then you can come back as my audience.

“Sounds good!!” Ayao turns to leave, Takeshi following her. Ko and I make our way to the door as well.

“See you soon,” Shōhei says to Isao before kissing his cheek and joining us on our way out of the theatre. I notice he’s blushing a little as he walks past me.

In the general hangout area, Takeshi, Ayao, and Ko are sitting together. Rei showed up here at some point and is sitting on his own. Shōhei is sitting on his own as well. I decide to join Shōhei and talk to him for a little before the show.

“Hey, Shōhei,” I greet as I sit down.

“Hello, Seiki.” He looks nervous.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m… fine, I’m just always pretty nervous before performances… maybe I should’ve asked to go first to get it over with. No, that would’ve been worse… I don’t know…”

“It’s alright, I’m sure you’ll be great. Plus, you get to watch your boyfriend perform some magic before you have to dance for everyone.”

“Boyfriend?” Shōhei looks surprised, blushing a little at what I said.

“Oh, are you two not together? I’m sorry I assumed…” I did see him kiss Isao’s cheek just now…

“Um… not officially. I’d like to ask him, but maybe not until we’re off the ship together. I don’t think I could handle the stress of possibly losing my b… boyfriend…” He smiles a little and blushes more as he says it. “Please don’t tell him I said anything…”

I smile at him. “Don’t worry, I won’t.”

“It’s noon now! It’s time for the show!!” Ayao stands up excitedly, dragging Takeshi along with her as she heads for the entrance to the theatre.

Everyone else stands up and files in, myself included. I take a seat towards the front and see Isao’s equipment on stage, but Isao is nowhere to be seen. Once everyone has taken a seat, Isao speaks from the back of the theatre.

“Welcome to the show…” I turn around to face him and see he’s holding a curtain nearly identical to one set up on the stage. He pulls it up above his head, covering himself, and when it falls, he disappears. His voice rings out once again, this time coming from the stage as the curtain there falls down almost in sync with the one behind us.

“Of the Ultimate Magician, Isao Sonozaki!” We applaud his introduction as he smiles at the audience.

“To start, I’d like to show you this backpack!” He pulls a small backpack out of the trunk at the side of the stage.

“Takeshi, think of an item. Anything on the ship that you’d want right now,” Isao says, facing the side of the room where Takeshi is sitting.

Takeshi takes a moment to respond. “...Matt?”

“Matt… is a person, not an item. And… I’m afraid my magic isn’t quite strong enough to bring back the dead,” Isao awkwardly giggles.

“...My camera, then,” Takeshi suggests. He looks upset at the brief reminder that Matt is no longer alive, but Isao moves on with the show quickly.

“Perfect!” Isao unzips the backpack and takes out a camera. He walks off stage, bringing it to Takeshi.

“This is… how did you get this, it was in my talent room…” Takeshi looks amazed as he powers on the digital camera and ensures that it’s his own.

“Magic backpack, that’s how! Ko, how about you? You have your whiteboard on you? Write anything that you’d want.” Isao walks past where Takeshi is sitting, looking at the camera he was just given, and approaches where Ko is seated.

They hold up their whiteboard, displaying the message, ‘Bow and arrows.’

“Bow and arrows, wonderful!” Isao reaches back into the backpack and pulls out a bow that’s definitely too long to have been able to fit in there and hands it to Ko. They watch in amazement as he reaches back in to pull out a quiver of arrows, handing it to them as well. A few of us applaud.

“Let’s do one more,” Isao says as he turns around to make his way back towards the stage. “How about you, Ayao? What’s something you would want right now?”

“Ooh! How about… a big, fluffy, teddy bear!” She claps her hands in excitement.

“I don’t know if I’ve seen a big fluffy teddy bear on the ship, but I’ll see what I can do…” Isao reaches back into the backpack before his expression turns to one of shock and he throws the bag down in front of him, taking a step backwards. The bag unzips fully on its own, and out pops…

“I’m not a teddy bear!” Monokuma crosses his arms and walks out of the theatre. I laugh a little and applaud once more.

“Well, that’s the best I could do. Sorry, dear Ayao.” Isao smiles at her before picking up the backpack and making his way back onto the stage.

He puts the backpack away in the trunk before taking out a stool and placing it in the center of the stage.

“For this next one I’ll need a volunteer. Maybe someone who wasn’t part of the first trick?” Isao looks out to the crowd.

I glance around, finding that the only people not part of the first trick are me, Shōhei, and Rei. Neither of them are saying anything, so I raise my hand a little.

“Seiki, perfect! Come up on stage,” Isao invites me. I stand up from my seat and walk to the front of the theatre, making my way onto the stage.

“Here, take a seat.” He gestures to a stool in the center of the stage. I do as I’m told.

“Now close your eyes…” I follow that instruction as well. “Imagine what it would be like to float up off the ground… how it would feel to levitate,” he instructs me. I do my best to follow his directions, taking deep breaths in and out, trying to imagine myself floating. It’s not really doing much…

I hear gasps from the audience, and one person clapping. My eyes shoot open and I look down to find that I’m actually floating.

“Stay calm now… if you move too quickly your landing won’t be so pleasant,” Isao explains. I stay where I am and smile a little, amazed at how I’m actually floating… How is he doing this?

I slowly drift back down to the stool and stand up on the stage. I smile at Isao, speechless. He smiles back at me and the audience applauds.

“Thank you for participating in my show. Now, if you’ll take a seat again.” I leave the stage and go back to my seat in the audience, still hardly able to process what just happened.

“Now, for one last trick to finish off my portion of the show, does anyone here wear a ring?” Isao looks around at the audience.

“I do!! Sort of!!” Ayao exclaims. “It’s a backup hair tie, but it’s a little one, so I wear it as a ring!”

“I wear a ring,” Rei adds.

“Great! Both of you come up here on stage with me,” Isao instructs. The two do as they’re told and make their way onto the stage.

“If you’ll each give me your rings…” Isao holds out his hands and Rei puts his ring in one of his hands while Ayao puts her hair tie in the other.

“Now,” he takes the ring and the hair tie, waving them around in front of himself, moving them past each other. “If you’ll all watch closely because this one goes pretty-” he quickly moves them together and stops, holding onto one and showing that they’re linked together, “-fast.”

“Whoa!!! That’s--” Ayao grabs the ring and hair tie from Isao, looking at it closely. She stretches the hair tie and finds that it’s completely linked on there. “That’s so cool!!”

I lean over to get a closer look. I don’t think there’s any gaps in the ring or the hair tie… that’s impressive.

Rei smiles and takes the looped hair tie and ring from Ayao. “Cool. Can you disconnect it so I can have my ring back now?”

“Or, you could--” Isao is cut off by Ayao grabbing the looped ring and hair tie from Rei.

“I got it!” She shouts as she tugs on the hair tie, pulling it far away from the ring until it breaks. “Ouch!” The hair tie snaps onto her hand and she drops the ring on impact, holding her hand close to herself. Rei picks up the ring from the floor as he walks past and back off the stage and to his seat. Ayao pouts and makes her way off the stage as well, back to her seat next to Takeshi.

“And that concludes my portion of the show!” Isao walks to the center of the stage, right at the front edge, as we all applaud his last trick.

He extends his arms out to either side, ready to bow and signify the end of his show. Just before he moves, something comes swinging in from the side. Is that… an axe? It swiftly swings directly into his head, and his smile is wiped clean off his face, replaced with a look of shock.

He’s not bleeding. Is this another magic trick? The audience has fallen silent, waiting for him to do something. He collapses to the floor.

Shōhei jumps out of his seat and rushes forward toward the stage, grasping one of Isao’s hands. I slowly stand up and follow him, peeking over Shōhei’s shoulder to see what’s going on.

“Shō… hei…” Isao speaks in a broken voice. It doesn’t sound human… more like a low quality audio file, or a sound clip playing on a damaged speaker.

A couple of the others join the two of us at the front, trying to see what’s going on.

_ding dong dong ding “A body has been discovered! After a certain amount of time, which you may use however you like, the class trial will begin!"_

A… body? With that announcement, I take another look at the boy collapsed on the stage. Sure enough…

Isao Sonozaki, the Ultimate Magician, is dead.

I see the look in Shōhei’s eyes change from panic and concern to complete despair. Tears begin flowing down his face and he’s frozen where he’s standing, looking desperately into Isao’s eyes.

“He’s not human,” Rei comments, observing Isao’s collapsed body.

“No, he’s not…” I confirm, wanting to take a closer look at the body but not wanting to bother Shōhei. Rei doesn’t seem to share this concern and hops up onto the stage to inspect Isao’s body.

Something about the lack of blood and the amount of murders we’ve seen up to this point have made me pretty desensitized. The fact that I’m not having a very strong reaction to this bothers me a little…

Ko taps Shōhei on the shoulder and manages to bring him to the front row of seats to sit down for the time being. Takeshi and Ayao have walked up the stairs at the other side of the stage and are searching backstage together. I step off to the side while Rei investigates the body and take out my Monopad to check the Monokuma File.

_Monokuma File 06_   
_Victim: Isao Sonozaki_   
_Time of death: 12:23pm_   
_Cause of death: sliced through the head_

I look back up from my Monopad just as Rei is hopping down from the stage. He walks past Shōhei, pausing next to him.

“Looks like Isao’s part of the show is over. You’re up next, right?”

Shōhei doesn’t look up from the floor. Ko scowls at Rei, who then leaves, smirking.

I sigh and shake my head before I take the stairs up onto the stage and approach the body, kneeling down to take a closer look at the fatal wound.

The axe is lodged deep into the side of his head, and there’s absolutely no blood in sight. I hesitantly touch his head to take a closer look. His hair and skin look realistic, but underneath there’s a distinctly robotic skull that’s been sliced open by the axe to reveal a human brain. Was he… a cyborg? I guess if the major human component to him was his brain, it makes sense that he’d die if it was damaged, but might not have if he were injured somewhere else.

After inspecting Isao’s head injury, I stand up once again and look for the source of the axe. I find some tripwire set up to have the axe swing down when someone moved to this area of the stage. And to think, he was just about to bow… if the axe had swung just a second later, he might still be alive. Or if Shōhei had performed first, it could’ve been him… or if any of us had walked in that spot when we helped Isao bring his supplies up here…

I check backstage and don’t find anything else notably out of the ordinary. I try to think of where the culprit could’ve gotten an axe and tripwire… the weapons room has been locked since we got here, but it’s worth checking.

I take the elevator to the fifth deck and approach the weapons room. I turn the door handle to find that it opens with ease. When did it get unlocked…?

I enter the room and take a look at the shelves of weaponry. With the sheer quantity of them, it’s impossible to know if any are missing… Some of the axes look similar to the one that was lodged into Isao’s head, so I conclude that the killer got their weapon from here.

Off to another side of the room, I find some tripwire, again hard to tell whether any has been taken. I didn’t pay much attention to the state of this room when we first found it, just that it was dangerous to have this many weapons here. Hitomi was the one who asked Monokuma to lock the room, and Hirai was the one to suggest that I keep the keys… I shake my head to regain focus, and continue to inspect the room.

On the floor near where the tripwire is, I find a small black button. It looks oddly familiar… After a short moment, it clicks. I compare the button to the one holding my cape around my shoulders. It’s identical. Why would there be a button like this here…? I don’t remember losing a button the first time we came here, and I haven’t been here since.

I leave the button where it is and continue to search the weapons room. Nothing else seems strange… but something comes to mind. I search the entire room for matches, not that they’re usually used as a weapon, but I still don’t know where Hirai’s killer would’ve gotten them. There’s no matches in sight…

I leave the weapons room. There’s probably not much longer until the trial will start, I need to think of where else to search… I take the elevator up to the first deck, considering which cabins might be important to check.

As I step out into the hallway, I see Takeshi and Ayao walking out of my cabin. Ayao waves at me, giving a sad smile, while Takeshi avoids eye contact. What did they find in there…?

I enter my cabin and search my wardrobe. Sure enough, a cape missing the button has been haphazardly shoved on top of the others. I check the bottom drawer, rummaging around through the copies of my skirt, where I originally hid the weapons room keys. They’re both there… How would someone have unlocked the room without stealing one?

_"Erm, so ah... I'm getting tired of waiting. What say we just get started, hm? It's time for the long-awaited... Class trial! Now then, please go down to the sixth deck now available on the elevator! Puhuhu. See you soon!"_

I was right about not having much time left to investigate… I leave my cabin and get on the elevator. It heads down to collect the others before descending to the sixth deck once again.


	24. Chapter 5: Class Trial

After yet another murder, we’re back here in the trial room. There’s only six of us left, ten podiums around the circle holding the portraits of those we’ve lost… and we’ll only be losing one more before we leave this room. We have no choice, we have to work together, the few of us that are left, to find the truth.

Once everyone has stepped up to their podiums, Monokuma appears once again.

“Welcome to your fifth class trial! Hope ya had enough time to investigate! Anyways, you know how this goes! Your votes determine the results. Figure out ‘whodunnit,’ or you’ll all be punished and the blackened will graduate! Go on, discuss the evidence! I’ll let you know when it’s time to vote!”

I look around the circle. There’s a dead look in Shōhei’s eyes… everyone else seems to be nervously glancing around at each other. Except Rei.

“So, where do we start?” Rei begins the discussion.

“Um… alibis for when it happened?” Ayao suggests.

“We were all in the theatre at the time of death. No one’s missing an alibi for that time,” I recall.

“What if… someone snuck backstage to commit the murder, and then rejoined the group when we were all gathering around the body?” Takeshi suggests.

“Ooh, maybe! A lot of us were sitting near the front, who was further back?” Ayao asks.

Ko holds up their whiteboard. ‘Rei always sits in the back row. I was sitting near the back too, and I don’t think I saw him move at all.’

“No… I don’t think the culprit would need to be missing an alibi for the time of death,” I explain. “Did anyone else see the murder weapon?”

“It was an axe! The killer hid backstage and threw it right at Isao when he was performing!” Ayao exclaims, gesturing her arms in a throwing motion.

“Nope. Seiki’s talking about the tripwire,” Rei says.

“Exactly, there was a tripwire on the stage. When Isao walked to a certain spot, it activated a trap that was set up beforehand,” I explain.

“The axe must’ve been hidden somewhere high up backstage…” Takeshi thinks aloud.

“So… when was the trap set?” Ayao asks, tilting her head.

“That’s what we need to find out. It could’ve been any time…” I try to think back to any previous time in the theatre when the trap would’ve been activated to get an idea of when it was set.

Ko lifts their whiteboard once again. ‘I’m pretty sure Monokuma stood in that spot during the motive announcement, so I’d say the trap was set sometime after that.’

“Oooh, yeah! Monokuma definitely went right where Isao died!” Ayao confirms Ko’s memory.

“So the trap could’ve been set by anyone, at any point that they spent any time alone since the motive announcement. That lowers it down,” Rei comments sarcastically.

“That does lower it down though! Takeshi and I spent the entire afternoon, evening, night, and this morning together! We had a sleepover last night, so I was with him the entire time! I can assure you it wasn’t him or me!” Ayao explains.

“She’s right, she followed me around the whole day, just to get you guys to trust me or whatever. I wouldn’t have had a chance to set the trap if I wanted to,” Takeshi confirms.

“So that brings it down to me, Rei, Ko, or Shōhei…” I look at the others, waiting for their defences.

“I think it was Shōhei,” Rei states.

“What!?” Shōhei is broken out of his depressive silence and looks at Rei.

“Well, look at how quiet you’ve been this whole time. Plus, Isao was what, a cyborg? Looked like the only human part of him was his brain. You two were close, I don’t doubt that you knew about it. So you’d be the only one to know where to aim the trap,” Rei explains.

“I-I… yes, I knew, but I’d never…” Shōhei is panicking, seeming to not know how to defend himself.

“Which one of you was it that suggested putting on a show? Did he suggest it, and then you thought of a plan, or was it your idea all along? How long have you been planning to betray his trust?” Rei pushes him even further.

“W-wait, I didn’t- it wasn’t me!” Shōhei continues to defend himself.

“Hold on, Rei,” I interject.

“What is it, Seiki?” He turns to me, tilting his head inquisitively and smirking.

“You wouldn’t have known since you didn’t hear about the show until this morning, but yesterday, Shōhei and Isao hadn’t decided who would be performing first. If Shōhei was the culprit, he’d have to have been the one to choose for Isao to go first… and by the time they made that decision, it would’ve been too late to set the trap. Besides, your point about knowing where to aim the trap is meaningless. An axe to the head would just as successfully kill a human, so it could’ve been a coincidence that the killer chose a method that would also kill a cyborg.”

“I-Isao wanted to go first…” Shōhei explains. “He decided this morning… he wanted to ease my nerves by starting the show himself and letting me go on after him.”

“But if Shōhei set the trap, wouldn’t he know where to avoid dancing? He gave Isao the choice so that he could point suspicion away from himself,” Rei continues. “You wouldn’t be the first to betray someone’s trust by killing them. You’re actually similar to Hitomi in a few ways. So, who’d you kill for? Dead loved one outside the killing game or someone you met here?”

Ko interrupts with another whiteboard message. ‘We should look at other evidence too. There’s too many suspects, I think that could help lower it down.’

“Alright, alright,” Rei finally stops his incessant pushing of Shōhei. “What else did you find that you want to discuss, Ko?”

They clear the whiteboard and write again. ‘I could only think of one place the culprit could’ve gotten the axe and tripwire: the weapons room. When I went down there, it was unlocked.’

“Weapons room? I didn’t know there was something like that on the ship…” Ayao says.

“I saw it the day after we got here, but it’s been locked since that afternoon,” Rei mentions. “It was unlocked during the investigation, though.”

“We explored it in a group that day. If I remember correctly… it was me, Isao, Shōhei, Hirai, Hitomi, Ko, Takeshi, and Matt. Hitomi asked for it to be closed off due to how dangerous it was, but Monokuma wanted us to still have access to it, so he gave us keys. Hirai suggested that I keep them, so I’ve had them hidden in my cabin since that day,” I explain.

“Did you tell anyone where you kept them?” Rei asks me.

“No, but everyone that was there knew I had them. Leaving out those who are no longer with us, that leaves Shōhei, Ko, and Takeshi.”

“Wouldn’t Monokuma be able to unlock the weapons room?” Ayao suggests. “Monokuma, did you unlock it for anyone?”

“Nope! There’s only two keys to that room, and I gave them away!” Monokuma explains.

“You don’t have a spare?” I question.

“Nope! Even if you were stupid enough to lose them, I’d know where they were from security camera footage! I don’t need a spare!”

Ko holds up their whiteboard, refocusing the discussion. ‘If Monokuma didn’t unlock it, then it was one of us.’

“My alibi is solid for the entire time since the motive announcement…” Takeshi glances at Ayao. “When Ayao and I were investigating together, we found some things in Seiki’s cabin… I searched the wardrobe and found one of her capes shoved into the top, missing the button on the front. I also searched through the other drawers and found both keys to the weapons room. There were only two, so neither could’ve been stolen…”

“Well that cape you mentioned lines up pretty well with the button I found in the weapons room,” Rei states. “Now that I mention it, looking at the cape you’re wearing right now, it was definitely the same kind of button.”

“I found that as well. I’m sure I didn’t lose a button when we first searched that room, so I think someone tried to frame me,” I say.

“Seiki…” Shōhei looks at me. I can sense a feeling of betrayal in his voice.

“Huh…?” Does he really think that I…

“You walked yourself right into that one, Seiki,” Rei says. “Neither key missing, button fell off your cape in the weapons room at a time that wasn’t when you first went there… It’s almost too easy.”

“I didn’t think you’d be the type to kill someone, Seiki…” Takeshi looks at me, seeming disappointed.

I look at Ko. They haven’t written anything since the accusations started turning on me, and they’ve seemed to trust me this entire time… they have to know I didn’t do it, right? They see me looking and write on their whiteboard, holding it up again. ‘I’m sorry, Seiki.’

“No, wait- I didn’t do it! What would be my motive?”

“Weak excuse. There’s been more than one case so far unrelated to the motive,” Rei brushes off my attempt to defend myself. “If you really want to claim that the motive is a fair defense, I wouldn’t be surprised if you killed for Kan. You were always pretty close with him, right? Or- you’ve been getting memories back here and there about your past, right? Maybe you remembered someone who died and wanted to contact them to get some answers. Answers more important to you than our lives…”

“I… I swear, someone tried to frame me…” I try to think of something, anything that could prove my innocence.

“Who would frame Seiki though?” Ayao looks around the room.

Everyone is silent. They’re all looking at each other, and mostly me. There has to be something… Something I’m missing…

“Alright, Monokuma, I think we’re ready to vote,” Rei addresses the bear. “I doubt we’ll get a proper confession from her until after we’ve voted.”

“I’m ready to vote,” Takeshi adds, looking upset with me.

“Alllrighty then! If you’ll-”

“No, that’s wrong!” I interrupt Monokuma with no idea of where I’m going with this, just needing to buy myself more time. I won’t let them vote for me and get us all killed, the culprit won’t get away with this…

“Whaaat, don’t want them to vote for you? Upset that your plan failed and you got found out?” Monokuma faces me.

“Monokuma… you, and whoever’s controlling you, of all people… should know that I’m not the culprit.”

Monokuma pauses, still looking at me. “I’ll give you another chance to defend yourself, but know that if nothing changes, I’ll start the voting!” Monokuma leans back in his chair and I take a deep breath, trying to come up with something to say.

I take a moment to go through everything since the last motive. Ko and I went to talk to Rei, then we spent the afternoon in the archery room. Then we had dinner with everyone except Rei… and then I went and got some tea on my own before going to bed. That’s when I found out about Takeshi and Ayao’s sleepover… and then I went to sleep…

That’s it! Someone was in my room last night!

“There was something- someone in my room last night, I think. I know it’s a weak excuse, but I remember waking up just a little… I thought it was a dream or something, but it could’ve been someone stealing the button from one of my capes and a key to the weapons room.”

“Nice excuse. I’m ready to watch this go nowhere and end up voting for you anyways,” Rei says. I glare at him.

Ko lifts their whiteboard. ‘I believe you, Seiki. Do you have any idea who it was?’

“No, I don’t… if they did that much in my room before I woke up, they probably hardly made a sound, so it must’ve been someone pretty stealthy.”

“Stealthy…?” Shōhei repeats, looking at Takeshi.

“Sounds like a trait associated with the Ultimate Stalker,” Rei comments.

“Wait… you’re really accusing me based on what Seiki admitted might’ve been a dream?” Takeshi looks confused. “There’s no proof there. Plus I spent the night with Ayao, she insisted we have a sleepover so she could keep an eye on me.”

“She must’ve fallen asleep at some point, though. Considering the fact that you stalked Matt for years, I assume you’d be stealthy enough to slip out without her noticing, unless she’s as light a sleeper as Seiki,” Rei says.

“I thought you were dead-set on blaming me,” I say, confused about Rei’s change in direction.

“I’m just interested to see where this goes,” he smirks.

“I didn’t leave Ayao’s room the entire night… Why are you all suddenly blaming me? Just because Seiki thinks someone was in her room, and thinks it was someone stealthy, doesn’t mean it had to be me.” Takeshi looks around at everyone, eyebrows furrowed.

“I guess I was pretty fast asleep… but I don’t think he left! He wouldn’t do that!” Ayao does her best to defend Takeshi.

“You’re forgetting that he blatantly admitted he would’ve killed if the third motive happened when Matt was still around,” Rei points out. “What makes you think that he wouldn’t kill now? Especially with a motive that let him talk to his beloved obsession once again?”

Ayao doesn’t say anything, nervously looking at the floor.

“Who says it wasn’t you, Rei? You’re pretty shady yourself, how do we know you’re not just as stealthy as me?” Takeshi directs the blame off of himself. “Accusing me makes you sound suspicious, too.”

“And why would I kill?” Rei asked incredulously. “I guess now is as good a time as ever for you all to get to know a little more about me. There are two people in this world I care about, neither of them are here, and neither of them are dead. Observing this killing game is too entertaining for me to want out, so there’s no possible reason for me to kill someone. Maybe in self defense, if it got serious, but did that axe with a tripwire look like self defense?”

“Okay, so it wasn’t you, but that doesn’t mean it was me! Don’t you think Seiki could be lying about seeing someone in her cabin? Wouldn’t a killer lie like that to protect themselves, especially when we were ready to vote?” Takeshi defends himself, pushing the blame back onto me.

Ko holds up their whiteboard again. ‘You would’ve had a lot more reason to kill than Seiki would. Your alibi for nighttime is pretty weak…’

“B-but why would I kill Isao? He never did anything to upset me…” Takeshi continues to defend himself.

“It wouldn’t matter to a stalker like you. Any chance you saw to kill someone would be your chance to see Matt again. That’s all you really want, isn’t it? You didn’t care who it was, you just needed someone to fall into your trap.” Rei seems to now be convinced that Takeshi is the culprit. “Besides, if Shōhei was right about when they decided who was performing first, you could’ve just as easily killed him. You didn’t specifically choose Isao as a target.”

“Are you kidding me!? Seiki had a nightmare and you’re using that as proof to push the blame onto me? I didn’t kill Isao, I didn’t set the trap, I didn’t leave Ayao’s room last night-- I’m not the culprit!!” Takeshi seems frustrated.

“Why so defensive?” Rei pushes further.

“Because it was Seiki! I know it was Seiki, you all know it too! We were just about to vote, and then we stop for Seiki to talk about some nightmare she had? It has nothing to do with the case, you all saw her button in the weapons room! She probably made up the nightmare just to shift the blame off of herself!” Takeshi attempts to push the blame back to me.

There’s a brief silence, and I look around the room. Shōhei, Ko, and Ayao just seem confused.

“How about this… if I were the culprit, when would I have put the key back in Seiki’s room? They were both there when Ayao and I investigated, and if Seiki’s right about seeing someone in her room, she would’ve noticed me in and out more than once.” Takeshi seems to mostly be asking Rei and I.

“Yeah!! I saw him take both keys out of the dresser!! I didn’t know what they were for, but he definitely took out two!” Ayao confirms.

“You could’ve slipped it into your hand before grabbing the other key that you knew was there,” I suggest. “Plus, why was it my room that you decided to search? Ayao, did the two of you search any other cabins during the investigation period, or just mine?”

“Um… just yours… and…” she looks like she doesn’t want to say something.

“What is it?” I prompt her.

“Um… Takeshi’s the one who suggested looking in your cabin…” She looks at the floor, away from Takeshi.

“Wh… I just thought Seiki was acting suspicious when we found the body, so I wanted to check her cabin. What’s wrong with that?” Takeshi states.

“Go on, Seiki,” Rei addresses me. “If it really wasn’t you, then do that thing where you go through the case and tell us all about how Takeshi was the killer.”

“IT WASN’T ME!!” Takeshi yells.

“Ooh, yelling only makes you look more suspicious, you know. I can’t believe I fell for your attempt to frame Seiki,” Rei smirks at Takeshi.

Takeshi glares at Rei, frustrated and speechless. I take this as my cue. Slightly annoyed that Rei was completely correct in the fact that I summarize every murder case towards the end of the trial, I put the pieces together in my head to start my explanation.

“It all started last night at dinner, when the culprit heard Shōhei and Isao discussing their plans to put on a show the next day. With the motive on their mind and Ayao set out to watch their every move, they began to formulate a plan.  
That night, the culprit accepted Ayao’s request for a sleepover. Once she was fast asleep, they stealthily snuck out of her cabin and into mine, having known that I had the keys to the weapons room. Silently searching my wardrobe, the culprit found the keys and stole one. While they were at it, they tore a button off of one of the copies of my cape to place as false evidence. Little to their knowledge, I began to wake up while they were in my cabin, not enough to see them, but enough to know that someone was there.  
The culprit then went to the weapons room, retrieving an axe and some tripwire, while also placing the button on the floor to cast the blame onto me. They took their supplies and set up a trap on the stage in the theatre, where Shōhei and Isao’s show was planned to take place.  
The next morning, several of us including the culprit worked together to help bring Isao’s supplies into the theatre. The trap was set at the front of the stage, where none of us went during this setup, but the culprit likely joined the group to keep an eye on their trap.  
Finally, the show took place, and Isao performed various magic tricks to amaze us all. At the end of the show, he walked to the front of the stage, and just as he was about to bow and signal the end of his performance, the trap was activated and the axe swung into his head.  
The final step in the killer’s plan wasn’t until during the investigation, when they brought Ayao directly to my cabin. They put the second weapons room key back where they originally found it and claimed to Ayao that both of them were found there in that moment.  
The culprit in this case, the one who set the trap that killed Isao at the end of his show, and tried to frame me for it, is none other than… Takeshi Ueda, the Ultimate Stalker.”

“Y-you’re wrong…” Takeshi looks at me, desperation in his eyes. “I-I’m not… a killer…”

“If I made any incorrect statements in my summary of the case, feel free to dispute them,” I invite him.

“I’m not…” Takeshi is breathing heavily. He looks at Shōhei, and then Ayao. “I didn’t… I didn’t do it!!” He looks desperate for anyone to believe him.

“Takeshi…” Ayao’s voice is full of fear and sadness.

“I think we’re ready to vote, then,” I say, looking at Monokuma.

“Are you sure this time? Because there’s no going baaack!” Monokuma pauses for a moment.

“It wasn’t me,” Takeshi states, voice sounding emotionless and empty.

“You got anything to back that up?” Monokuma pauses once again. Takeshi remains silent. “Didn’t think so. Now then, use the lever in front of you to make your selection! Who will be chosen as the blackened?”

I select Takeshi as my vote. I don’t know how I feel about the lack of solid evidence that it was him in my room, but he had the most reason to kill with the motive going on, and he’s likely the stealthiest one here… There’s nothing else to discuss. It has to be him.

After all the votes are in, the slot machine pops up once again. It spins until all three faces land on Takeshi.

“Right again! Though this vote was the most split you’ve ever been before, two people voted incorrectly! Luckily four of you got it right!”

Two people…? Takeshi almost certainly voted for me… was the other one Ayao? I wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t want to vote for Takeshi…

“Why…” Shōhei looks at Takeshi, tears forming in his eyes. “Why did you kill Isao?”

“I-I… I wanted to see Matt again, okay!? You were right, you were all right to judge me. The only thing I wanted was to talk to him again… even just the chance to talk to him through a spirit medium meant more to me than any of your lives!” Angry tears begin to form in Takeshi’s eyes.

“Why did you have to kill Isao!?” Shōhei shouts in a broken voice, looking into Takeshi’s eyes.

“Why should it matter? You knew him for what, two and a half weeks? I knew Matt for FIVE FUCKING YEARS!! He was more important to me than anything, I needed to… see him again…” Takeshi trails off as he looks into Shōhei’s eyes. His expression changes a little. “I…”

“Just because it wasn’t as long doesn’t mean that I’m not mourning! He was important to me and you- you just took that away for your own selfish reasons!” Shōhei shouts at Takeshi from across the circle of podiums. It almost seems like Takeshi recognizes something in Shōhei’s face. His attitude almost changes completely…

“I’m sorry.” Takeshi stares blankly at Shōhei.

“...Huh?” Shōhei calms down enough to listen to him.

“I’m sorry that my selfishness and desperate need to see Matt again caused you to lose someone as well. I can’t imagine that your bond with him was anywhere near what I had with Matt, what I needed to experience again… but you cared about him. And I took that away from you… so I’m sorry.” He seems genuine.

Shōhei stares at him blankly, not saying a word.

“I hope you’re stronger than me… that you can move on from Isao’s death. I couldn’t do that with Matt… I couldn’t let go and move forward. I hope you’re strong enough that you can move on from this. I don’t expect you to forgive me… I’d never forgive Sachiko for what she did, not in a million years. You don’t even have to say anything to me.” Takeshi takes a deep breath and looks away from Shōhei. “Maybe this is for the better… maybe spending the afterlife with Matt is what I really wanted all along. After my execution… I’ll be with him again…” He starts to smile as tears flow down his face. He seems genuinely happy for the first time since before Matt’s death.

Shōhei doesn’t say a word, still staring at Takeshi. He looks sad and confused.

“Oh, Seiki.” Takeshi faces me, wiping away his tears. “I’m sorry for framing you. I don’t have anything against you, in fact you’ve been really nice to me this entire time. It just lined up too well with the fact that you had the weapons room keys. You’re too smart though… maybe I knew all along that you wouldn’t give up, that you’d figure out the truth. I hope the rest of you guys can get out of here together.”

I don’t know what to say, so I just nod in response.

“Is that it? I’m getting boooored! Can we do the execution now?” Monokuma interrupts. “Wait, what am I asking you guys for!? I’m the one in charge! Alright then, I’ve prepared a very special punishment for Takeshi Ueda, the Ultimate Stalker!”

“Goodbye, everyone…” Takeshi gives a sad smile to everyone. Ayao quickly rushes over from her podium to give Takeshi a hug.

“Goodbye, Takeshi… say hi to Matt, and Rio, and Kan for me…” Ayao cries into his shoulder.

“I’m sorry, Ayao. I hope you can get out of here… goodbye.”

“Let’s give it everything we’ve got! It’s… PUNISHMENT TIIIME!!”

With that, Takeshi is yanked out of his hug with Ayao and brought to his punishment.

[TRIGGER WARNING] (skip past the next line if you don’t want any spoilers, but please read if you want to be prepared for any potentially triggering content.)  
_almost drowning, stab to the heart_

_THE ULTIMATE STALKER'S WATER DAMAGED HEART_

_Takeshi is placed on a conveyor belt with the wardrobe from his talent room wide open behind him, revealing his collection to the others. The conveyor belt moves forward and drops Takeshi into a large tank of water, the wardrobe to follow._

_In the tank, all the items from inside the wardrobe float out to surround Takeshi, along with the camera that was hung around his neck. Before he can process his surroundings, a chain clamps around his ankle, preventing him from swimming up for air. Desperately looking around for an escape, Takeshi notices the photos, notebooks, and Matt’s journal page are quickly getting water damage, and all of Matt’s blood that remained on the knife has been washed clean off. Just as he’s reaching out to grab some of the items, Monokuma’s claws come out and start shredding the photos, then the journal page, the notebooks, the hoodie, the camera, and one by one the rest of the items from inside the wardrobe, finishing with the wardrobe itself. Takeshi begins to run out of air as he’s surrounded by the shreds of his collection, the only pieces intact being the container with Matt’s heart and the knife._

_Takeshi desperately reaches out for the container, water starting to enter his lungs. Suddenly, the back panel of the tank shatters. The water flows out the back of the tank, and as it forcefully pulls Takeshi down with it, Monokuma shreds the container along with the heart inside._

_Takeshi lies gasping for air in a pile of shattered glass and the torn remains of his collection. He attempts to get up but can’t, before looking up to see Monokuma standing on the edge of the tank’s frame, holding the knife. Monokuma waves down at him before dropping the knife, which falls directly into his chest, piercing his heart and killing him._

_Takeshi Ueda, the Ultimate Stalker, is dead._

Ayao has knelt to the floor, crying into her arms. Shōhei watches the execution with a blank expression. Immediately after the execution finishes, Rei leaves the trial room on his own without a word.

I’m not too surprised that he ended up killing, considering the motive that was going on, and how obsessed he was with Matt… but he was pretty smart about how he covered it up. It was stressful being accused so heavily by everyone, but we managed to find the truth… resulting in Takeshi’s death. I hate this place…

I get on the elevator with Ko and leave the trial room.


	25. Chapter 5: Post-Trial Scenes

Ko and I both get off the elevator on the third deck. They walk right into their talent room, no doubt to spend some time practicing archery to relieve stress. I make my way down the hallway, approaching the door with the camera symbol. I slowly push it open.

Just as I thought… the wardrobe is gone. That must’ve been what was in his execution… It all seemed like relatively normal stuff for a stalker to be collecting, except… a human heart? It must’ve been…

The thought disturbs me. Did he really go back to Matt’s corpse after the second class trial and take… his heart…? I start to put together the pieces and figure he was the one who took the missing knife from the set in the kitchen, and that’s why he knew how long it was missing. Now that I think about it, that was probably why he got so defensive when I asked to see what was inside the wardrobe. Everything else was to be expected of a stalker, but if I’d seen a human heart, I’d be immediately suspicious of him.

I try not to think about it too much and I leave Takeshi’s talent room. Thinking of talent rooms, I get back on the elevator and go to the second deck. I walk into the dining hall to see which keys have been added.

Seems to be… a calculator, and… a moon and stars. For the Ultimate Mathematician and the Ultimate Astronomer… Ayao would probably want to check out both of those rooms. I leave the keys on the table and turn back to leave the dining hall.

_“It is now 10pm. As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then... Sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite...”_

The trial must’ve taken up a lot of the day… I head back to the elevator and make my way to my cabin for the night.

…

Ko gently knocks on the door. A moment later, Ayao opens it.

“Oh, hi Ko.” She seems pretty drained.

Ko lifts up their whiteboard for her to read. ‘Hey! I know you’re not doing too great, so I brought you some cookies. We can eat them together, or if you’d rather be alone, I can leave them here with you. :)’

“Oh, thank you so much! You can stay, if you brought them here I wouldn’t wanna hog them all for myself.” She opens the door a little wider and invites Ko to sit on her bed with her.

Takeshi’s pillow and blankets are still set up on the floor. Ko steps over them to take a seat on Ayao’s bed. They set the plate of cookies down on the bed between themselves and Ayao, and the two of them eat in silence, enjoying each others’ company.

Once the nighttime announcement plays, Ko scribbles another quick message on their whiteboard. ‘I’m gonna bring this down to the kitchen before it’s locked. Goodnight!’ They pick up the plate as they show Ayao the message.

“Okay!! Goodnight, Ko! Thank you for bringing cookies and spending time with me!” Ayao gives a sad smile and the two wave to each other as Ko leaves the room.

…

Shōhei slowly pushes open the door to the theatre. Isao’s corpse is still lying motionless on stage.

Shōhei wordlessly approaches him, staring into his lifeless mechanical eyes. He reaches out a hand and holds one of Isao’s hands, tears falling from his eyes. He can’t bring himself to say anything… he doesn’t know what he’d say if he did.

He reaches over and pulls the axe out of Isao’s fatal wound, placing it behind the body. He then takes off his scarf and wraps it around Isao’s head like a bandage, covering all the damage. Finally, he looks at Isao’s lifeless face once more and reaches over to manually close his eyes. Shōhei’s hand lingers on Isao’s face for a moment before he steps back, taking one last look over him before leaving the theatre.

…

“No one’s doing anything fun after trials anymore! What happened to Takeshi’s inspiration with cutting out Matt’s heart? That was so fun to watch! Shōhei just went and saw Isao’s corpse but didn’t even take anything! How boring!” The Mastermind throws a Monokuma plush on the ground with frustration, standing up from their chair.

“Junko…” The Mastermind speaks to the statue. “I think it’s almost time to bring this thing to an end. There’s still a couple things I’m waiting for… but we’ll see how these next few days go.” They turn to face the screens, smirking.


	26. Chapter 6: Day 1

_"Good morning, everyone! It is now 7am and nighttime is officially over! Time to rise and shine! Get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day!"_

What’s the point anymore? What’s the point in getting up, spending time with these people, if they’re just going to keep on dying? I can’t find the motivation to get up right away, so I drift off back to sleep.

After sleeping for another few hours, I feel a little better… but not much. I leave my cabin and I’m greeted by Ayao in the hallway.

“Morning, Seiki!” I can tell she’s straining to be as cheerful as she usually is.

“Morning…” I give her a sympathetic smile. She tries to smile back but she looks like she’s about to burst into tears. I approach her.

“Do you want to talk?” I place a hand on her shoulder. She nods and the tears start flowing. I lead her into my cabin where we both take a seat on the bed.

“I just… I thought I could help him…” She says between sobs. “I thought- we could get out of here, and I could help him get better… maybe it was my fault, I should’ve watched him closer, I shouldn’t- I shouldn’t have gone to sleep, I should’ve stayed up until he was asleep and--” She breaks off into sobs.

“It’s not your fault, Ayao.” I place my hand on her back, slowly rubbing it in comfort. “You did what you could, and I could tell he appreciated that you tried.”

She spends a while wordlessly crying before she manages to calm down enough to stop. She takes a couple deep breaths and looks at me.

“Thank you, Seiki… Thank you for listening to me, and comforting me. You’re a really great friend!” There’s still sadness in her tone, but she smiles at me.

“You’re welcome.” I smile back. “Let’s go get some breakfast,” I suggest.

She nods and stands up, leaving my cabin. I follow her out and we take the elevator down to the second deck.

We walk through the hangout area and dining hall, making our way to the kitchen. We each get a bowl of cereal and bring them out to the dining hall, where we sit together to eat.

“Ooh wait! Is that my talent room key!?” Ayao excitedly picks up the key with the calculator symbol.

“It looks like it,” I say. I glance over at the other key.

“And this one’s…” She picks up the second key and takes a close look at it. “Moon and stars… whose talent w-” Her eyes widen as she realizes. “Rio… I’ll hold onto this for them.” She goes back to her breakfast, shoving another spoonful of cereal into her mouth.

Ko walks in shortly after, waving to us. Ayao waves back with a mouth full of food.

“Morning, Ko,” I greet. They walk past and enter the kitchen. Shortly after, they come back out with a plate of toast. They join us at the table and start eating.

“We should check out my talent room after breakfast!” Ayao suggests.

Ko scribbles down a message on their whiteboard. ‘Oh, did your room get unlocked?’

“Yup, found the key here just now!” Ayao smiles. She’s not grinning as wide as she usually does, for good reason…

“I’ll come with you to look at it,” I say before finishing up my cereal.

It doesn’t take long for the other two to finish their breakfasts, and once we’ve all brought our dishes back to the kitchen, we head down to the third deck. Ayao unlocks her talent room and pushes the door open for the three of us to enter.

The room inside is the same size as the other talent rooms. The walls are a light shade of teal and there are a few tables around the room. It’s almost like a childrens’ classroom, and one wall is mostly taken up by a whiteboard. The clock on the wall has math problems rather than numbers, and there’s a shelf to one side that appears to be full of textbooks, math puzzle books, and worksheets.

“Whoa, this place is so cool!!” Ayao energetically rushes around the room, taking it all in.

I approach the bookshelf. It looks like it’s mostly calculus, befitting for her talent but not for the childish theme of the room.

“Ooh, it’s been so long since I’ve done math!! There’s puzzles, worksheets-- DERIVATIVES!!!” Ayao clutches a paper she found on one of the shelves, looking absolutely thrilled. She slams the paper down on the nearest table and takes a seat, grabbing a pencil from a cup in the center of the table and getting to work.

After looking around the room a little more, I take a seat at the table Ayao is working at. Ko is already sitting there, watching her work. She’s writing fast…

“F of X is four X squared minus three X plus two, all to the power of negative two… So F prime of X is negative two times four X squared minus three X plus two, to the power of negative three, and then times eight X minus three!” Ayao speaks while she completes one of the problems on the sheet, grinning as she finishes it.

“Okay…?” I followed almost none of that. I don’t have any memory of my high school education, but something tells me this is beyond what I ever learned. I notice Ko is looking just as confused. In any case, Ayao looks like she’s having a blast.

“Aaaaand, done!” She sets the pencil down on the table and leans back in her chair. “Phew, that was fun! Do you want me to explain it to you? I’ve been told I’m a good tutor!”

“Um… maybe another time,” I offer, not very interested at the moment.

Ko slides their whiteboard towards Ayao with a message on it. ‘Maybe once we’re out of here, you can help me with my algebra homework.’

“Yes! I’d love that!” Ayao grins at Ko, her eyes twinkling in excitement. “I guess not everyone is as excited about math as me, but that’s okay! I can come back here later.” She stands up and pushes in her chair.

I try to think of where else to go. I don’t want to suggest going to Rio’s talent room, considering how much happier Ayao is right now… seeing it might make her upset.

I think back to a few days ago, after the fourth class trial. I went to the library and thought about looking through all the books, but didn’t have the time or energy to do it myself… I turn to face Ayao and Ko.

“Hey… I was thinking about going to the library. I thought maybe there could be a clue about this place in one of the books, but there’s way too many for me to look through on my own… would you two want to join me?”

“Okay!!” Ayao agrees excitedly. Ko smiles, standing up as well.

The three of us leave Ayao’s talent room and take the elevator down to the fourth deck. We make our way into the library.

“Let’s each take a shelf and start flipping through the books. We can let each other know if we find anything that seems like it could be a clue,” I suggest. I figure sitting down and reading each one would take far too long, but if we really don’t find anything then we can do that.

“Got it!” Ayao makes her way over to a shelf halfway across the library. Ko takes one on the other side, and I start with one in the center.

I pick up a novel. It just seems like a standard fiction novel that’d be found in a school library… I flip through the pages before putting it back. I repeat this process and make it across the entire top shelf of books… nothing. I keep going through the entire bookshelf and it’s all the same…

When I’m done with that, I keep searching. It’s taking a while, but I hope it’s worth it… A short while later, I hear someone snap their fingers. I look up to find that it was Ko, using it as an audio cue to get our attention.

They’re holding up… a photo? I walk closer to take a look at it. Ayao follows as well.

“Who’s that?” Ayao takes the photo from Ko, and I peek over to see it. It’s a young woman… She has huge pigtails held up by clips that look like either half of Monokuma as a full bear face. In front of her stands Monokuma.

“I feel like I’ve seen her before…” I comment, struggling to think of where I recognize her from.

Ko takes the picture back from Ayao and turns it over. Written across the back is the message, ‘Junko says we can do it!’

“Junko? Is that her name?” Ayao questions, turning the photo back over to look at her again.

“It could be… I wonder who wrote that,” I say, referring to the message on the back.

“Maybe the Mastermind.” Ayao hands the photo back to Ko again. They place it on the shelf next to them and pull out their whiteboard to write a message.

‘I found it between these two books here, but neither of them seem to have anything to do with her or the killing game. I think she’s important, though.’

“Yeah… it seems like she has something to do with Monokuma,” I say. Ko wipes off their whiteboard and shoves it back into the large inside pocket of their hoodie.

“I think we should keep searching. There could be more,” I suggest.

“Okay!” Ayao turns back and goes to where she was searching, and I do the same. Ko gets back to where they found the picture and continues to search the books.

A couple hours later and we’re left with nothing but the photo. Who exactly is ‘Junko’... and why does she seem familiar to me?

“Whew… I think I need a nap after all that!” Ayao collapses on the couch. She closes her eyes and begins to drift off to sleep at an incredible speed.

“Wait wait wait!” Monokuma suddenly appears.

“Wha--!” Ayao jumps up to a sitting position, startled by Monokuma.

“Don’t you know that sleeping outside of your cabins is strictly prohibited?”

Ayao’s eyes widen in fear. No… he can’t…

“You’re lucky, I’m feeling nice today! Since you just had a class trial yesterday, I’ll let you off with a warning today! Any rule-breakers tomorrow won’t be so lucky, though. Better tell your friends to watch out if they feel like testing my patience!” With that, Monokuma leaves.

“Oogh, that was close…” Ayao looks relieved and terrified at the same time. “I need to go to my cabin for a while, I’ll seeya guys later!” She quickly leaves the library.

Ko approaches me while writing on their whiteboard. ‘I want to go practice some archery, would you like to join me?’

“Oh, no thank you. I think I’d like to get something to eat…” My internal clock is telling me it’s dinner time.

They nod in response and wave to me before leaving. I’m left alone in the library with the photo Ko found now on the table in the corner. I walk over and take another look at it. Maybe I should keep this for now… I pocket the photo and leave the library as well.

I take the elevator up to the second deck and make my way into the kitchen. There’s no one around… I’ll make something that’ll have leftovers, so that if anyone else wants to eat later they can have some.

I search the kitchen cupboards until I find some canned soup. Not particularly special, but I don’t really have the energy to put much effort into cooking, so it’ll do. I decide on chicken noodle and grab a couple cans. I find a pot and set it on the stove before preparing the soup. Once it’s ready, I grab a bowl of it and bring it out to the dining hall to eat.

As I’m sitting down, Rei enters the dining hall. Of course it has to be him…

“Good evening, Seiki,” he greets.

“Hello. I made soup, if you want some,” I reluctantly offer.

“How kind of you.” He walks past the table and into the kitchen. Shortly after, he comes back out with a bowl of soup as well, sitting a couple seats away from me.

I continue to eat my soup, making no attempts at conversation with Rei. A few minutes pass in silence.

“So, any more thoughts on who the Mastermind could be?” Rei breaks the silence.

I sigh. “I’m not so sure it’s any of us.” I internally debate with myself on whether I should tell him about the photo we found in the library before deciding to go for it. I take the photo out of my pocket and slide it across the table.

“Who’s that?” He takes a closer look at the photo.

“Check the back. I think her name is Junko. I don’t know who she is, but she clearly has some sort of connection to Monokuma.”

“So you think _she’s_ the Mastermind?” He smirks, sliding the photo back to me.

“It’s possible. Who even said the Mastermind had to be one of the students? Hirai was the one who suggested the person behind this was on the ship, he never really had proof for that, did he?”

“Maybe there’s some things about him that you don’t know,” Rei says.

“Are you implying that he’s the Mastermind? He’s dead. There’s no way the killing game would continue past the Mastermind’s death,” I state.

“No… he’s not the Mastermind. But I think he knew something about the Mastermind.”

It’s possible… the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. If he knew something about the Mastermind, then they’d want to kill him, but they might feel strongly about following their own rules and not want to have to punish themselves. Since they had control of how Monokuma set the rules, they could’ve piggy-backed off of Hitomi’s murder and killed Hirai with no reprecussions. It’s… awful… but plausible, considering this person planned this entire killing game…

“Maybe so,” I finally comment, to sum up my thoughts. “So… have you given up on claiming that you’re the Mastermind, then? Or are you gonna pretend you never said that again?”

“Oh, no. I’m the Mastermind, I just thought it’d be easier to have a conversation with you about it if I pretended I wasn’t.” He smirks at me again. He’s impossible…

I sigh and go back to eating my soup in silence. He doesn’t bother me anymore, thankfully.

After dinner, I leave and take the elevator on my own. When it opens, Ayao is inside.

“Hi Seiki! I was gonna go look at Rio’s talent room, wanna join?”

“Oh, sure.” I was going to head back to my cabin for the night, but I am interested to see the room.

We take the elevator to the third deck and approach the room with the symbol matching the one on the key. Ayao unlocks the door and pushes it wide open.

The room has a dark purple and blue galaxy printed wallpaper, with black furniture inside. There’s a very fancy and expensive-looking telescope pointed towards a window in the wall opposite to the door. On the other side of the room, there’s a large and comfy-looking couch with a side table. Below the side table there’s a shelf built into the legs, containing several books on astronomy.

“This place is sooo cooool!!!” Ayao excitedly bounces around the room, taking it all in.

“It is pretty nice,” I comment, taking a look at the telescope.

“Rio would’ve loved this,” Ayao gives me a sad smile. I sympathetically smile back.

“Oh, is that the telescope they were talking about?” Ayao walks over to where I’m standing, next to the telescope. She very slowly brings her face close to the eyepiece, seeming to remember Rio’s warning about when they injured their eye on the side of it.

“Woooowww, I can see so many stars n’ stuff!” I look out the window to see that it’s pretty dark outside. How late is it now…?

_“It is now 10pm. As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then... Sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite...”_

Well, that answers my question. Ayao seems to disregard the announcement, grinning as she looks around with the telescope.

“Rio was right, this is really cool…” She moves her face away from the telescope. “You should try, Seiki!”

I move to the other side of the telescope, taking Ayao’s place. I lean down and look into the eyepiece.

It’s hard to tell exactly what I’m seeing at first. There’s… a lot to take in. I move the telescope around a little. It’s kind of amazing… I see a lot of stars, a lot closer than I normally can. It’s so detailed…

I back away from the telescope and turn around to see Ayao sitting on the couch, reading one of the books. I walk over and sit next to her.

“I wish Rio could’ve seen this room…” She closes the book and places it on her lap.

“Me too.” I can tell she still misses them a lot… they became pretty close in the few days they knew each other. They hit it off almost immediately.

She looks down at the book on her lap for a while before looking back up at me. “It’s nighttime, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, the announcement played while you were looking through the telescope.”

“We should probably go to bed,” she suggests, standing up. She puts the book back away and the two of us leave Rio’s talent room.

We take the elevator up to the first deck. Before parting ways in the hallway, Ayao hugs me.

“Goodnight, Seiki! I’ll see you tomorrow!” She squeezes me tight. With the way she’s holding me, it’s a little hard to move my arms, but I do my best to hug her back.

“Goodnight, Ayao.” She releases me before turning around and heading into her cabin. I smile as I watch her go before entering my own.

I take a deep breath and change into my pajamas before heading to bed. I fall asleep fairly quickly after lying down.


	27. Chapter 6: Day 2

I slowly drift awake. What… time is it? Was there no announcement? I drift in and out of consciousness before deciding to get up and get dressed.

_"Good morning, everyone! It is now 7am and nighttime is officially over! Time to rise and shine! Get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day!"_

Ah, there it is. I guess I woke up a bit early… I leave my cabin.

There’s no one in the hallway, so I take the elevator down to the second deck by myself. Shōhei is sitting alone in the dining hall, eating toast.

“You’re up early too, huh?” I lean on the table as I speak to him.

“Couldn’t really sleep at all…” Shōhei looks and sounds drained.

I pause for a moment before heading into the kitchen and getting some toast for myself. Easy to prepare breakfasts are all we really have the energy for at this point, it seems. I join Shōhei in the dining hall afterwards.

“This place fucking sucks,” he says, punctuating his statement by taking a bite of his toast.

“I feel you on that one,” I agree.

The two of us sit and eat in silence. My mind wanders back to the Mastermind, and I get frustrated at the little progress we’ve made towards finding out who it is or what they want with us. If only the photo of Junko brought any answers, rather than only more questions…

After breakfast, Shōhei and I both wordlessly make our way into the general hangout area and sit a little bit away from each other. I stare out the window, letting my mind wander, attempting to think of anything to do… Is there anywhere I haven’t thoroughly investigated yet?

“Hey, Shōhei.” I turn around to face him.

“Hm?” He turns around as well, to face me.

“Ayao, Ko, and I searched the library yesterday and found this photo.” I approach him and hand him the picture of Junko.

He looks at it and turns it over to read the message on the back. “What…”

“We think it might have something to do with the Mastermind. I assume that girl’s name is Junko, but we don’t know who she is… I figure if that’s been hidden in the library the whole time, there might be other things we’ve missed. I want to check the arcade next,” I explain.

“I’ll come with you,” he says, handing back the photo. We both walk to the elevator and descend to the fifth deck.

The arcade is the same as ever, dark themed and lit up by bright arcade machines. I first search the titles of the games… nothing seems out of the ordinary.

Shōhei has wandered to the side of the room that contains the Dance Dance Revolution machine. He’s staring at it with a sad expression.

“Hey, c’mon.” I tap his shoulder and lead him to the other side of the arcade. I know he played that game with Isao… so it might be best to avoid it for now.

“None of the game titles seem to be any clues,” I mention, hoping to help get his mind off of Isao. “Though this one stands out to me…” I approach a machine with a game titled ‘Twilight Syndrome Murder Case’.

“Maybe we should play some… see if any themes to the games could get us anywhere,” Shōhei suggests.

“Good idea.” I start with the machine I was already standing next to, and he walks up to watch me play. It feels relevant somehow, but nothing stands out as a clue about the killing game or who the Mastermind might be.

Next, I approach a nearby multiplayer machine and we play together. It doesn’t end up being at all helpful to our investigation, but we manage to have some fun and get our minds off of the killing game for a while.

We continue like that, playing various games and almost forgetting about what we were there to do. I was properly enjoying myself, and we made it through nearly every game in the arcade, the only exceptions being Rock Band and Dance Dance Revolution, since those games had been played by the group before. Nothing seemed relevant to the killing game…

The very last machine we approach is the one in the corner where Mizuki died. This is the one that fell on her… I pause, standing in front of it, and Shōhei does as well.

“That’s…” Shōhei trails off as the two of us stare at the machine.

“It’s the one that killed Mizuki,” I state. Suddenly, I’m hit with something that feels like a vague memory… like this corner of the arcade is important somehow.

“Are you okay?” Shōhei asks, noticing something was off.

“Yeah, I think so…” I try to remember more, but it’s no use. “I think we should look closer at this corner,” I suggest, hoping to find something.

I kneel to the ground and check around the floor under the arcade machine. Sticking out from underneath, I see a small piece of paper. I pull it out and take a look.

“What’d you find?” Shōhei approaches me.

I stand up and show him. “It’s another photo of that girl…” It’s the exact same picture as the first one. I turn it over to see the back, and read the message aloud. “‘It’s all for Junko!’...”

“Strange…” Shōhei comments.

“It’s in the same handwriting as the last one. It has to be the Mastermind,” I say. “At first I thought this girl might be the Mastermind, but thinking about the messages, it sounds more like this girl told the Mastermind what to do.”

“There’s two so far, right?” He asks. “Anywhere else you want to check? I wonder if there’s more…”

“Yeah,” I confirm. “Maybe… the games room. Both of them so far have been in entertainment rooms.”

Shōhei nods. I pocket the photo and we leave the arcade, making our way next door into the games room.

When we enter the games room, Ko is sitting on the floor next to a shelf of board games. There’s a box in front of them and they seem to be reading the rules for a game.

“Ko?” I approach them.

They look up at me and wave a little before getting out their whiteboard and writing. ‘I thought since yesterday we looked through the library and found that photo, we could look at stuff in here too. I haven’t found anything yet, but I’ve only searched this shelf.’

“I had the same idea. Shōhei and I just finished searching the arcade, and we found this.” I sit next to them on the floor and show them the photo, as well as the message on the back.

‘That’s the same writing, and the same picture. If there’s two there might be more, so maybe we should just check all the game boxes for more copies of this photo. It might be a waste of time to read the rules like I was.’ Ko quickly scrawls the long message on their whiteboard in small writing.

“I don’t think you were wasting time, but that is a good idea. If we don’t find anything, maybe we can spend some time skimming through the rules as well,” I suggest.

“Maybe…” Shōhei doesn’t seem to like the idea of spending that much time searching, but seems at least willing to help.

“We should start searching,” I say, standing up and approaching another shelf of games.

A few hours pass as we all work through different shelves in the room, looking for clues or copies of the photo. Just as I’m on my last shelf, Shōhei speaks up.

“Hey, I found another one,” he calls us over, putting down the box as he picks up the photo. Ko and I put down the games we’re searching and walk up to him.

“‘Continue Junko’s legacy and spread more despair!’” He reads the message on the back aloud to us. I peek over to look at it.

“Same writing again… whoever the Mastermind is must really look up to this Junko girl,” I comment.

“You’re still holding onto the other two, right?” Shōhei asks, handing me the photo. “I think you should keep this one too.”

“Why am I always the one trusted with these things…” I reluctantly take the photo and pocket it.

Ko scribbles down a message on their whiteboard. ‘I think everyone trusts you. Even with the weapons room keys, after the last case, you proved that you won’t abuse that kind of power.’

I don’t say anything else. It feels nice to be trusted, but I don’t know how I ended up everyone’s go-to person to trust…

The three of us leave the games room and go back to the second deck to sit together in the general hangout. When we get there, Ayao is sitting alone. I decide to join her.

“Hey… how are you holding up?”

“I’m okay! Kind of. I’m doing my best.” She gives me a sad smile. It’s silent for a moment, the two of us gazing out of the window in front of us.

I take the photos out of my pocket. “We found two more of these,” I say, handing her the new ones.

She takes them and looks at the messages on the back. “Weird…” She hands them back to me when she finishes reading.

“I think the Mastermind wrote them, but I still don’t know who it is… before finding these, I thought that girl might be the Mastermind, and she was hiding somewhere in the ship or something. But considering the content of the notes, I think it’s someone who looks up to her,” I explain.

Ayao nods as she listens to me. “You’re really smart, Seiki! I’m sure you can figure it out, and I’ll try my best to help you!”

I smile at her before gazing out the window in front of us again. It’s a little cloudy, but the sea is still calm, and endless as ever. I let my mind wander a little.

“Hey, Ayao… I have a question,” I say.

“What’s up?” She looks at me, head tilted.

“Did… did Rei ever talk to you alone about the Mastermind?”

Her eyes widen. “Did he tell you too…?”

“Yes- wait, what did he tell you?”

“He said that… Shōhei and Isao were the Masterminds, that they were working together and Isao was mostly in charge. He said that Isao gave him the matches he used to kill Hirai, and told him to do it,” she explains.

“That’s… different from what he told me…” What kinds of rumours has he been spreading…?

I look over the back of the couch we’re sitting on to see Shōhei and Ko having a conversation. I glance at Ayao again before getting up and sitting with them. Ayao follows me.

“Hey, Shōhei… I have something to ask you,” I say.

“What is it?” He looks confused.

“Did Rei ever tell you anything about the Mastermind? Like… who they are?”

“Um… he told me Takeshi was the Mastermind,” Shōhei says. “He said Takeshi told him to kill Hirai. I didn’t really believe him, and considering we just watched Takeshi die… I highly doubt that’s the case.”

“So he told most of us different stories…” I think aloud. I turn my focus back to Shōhei and Ayao to explain. “He told Ko and I each separately that he was the Mastermind. He told us both that no one would believe us, and when we confronted him together, he denied ever telling either of us. Now knowing that he’s told you two completely different things, it makes me wonder why even more than I did before…”

As if on cue with our conversation, Rei steps off the elevator and into the general hangout. The four of us turn to look at him.

“Figured me out, huh?” He approaches us.

“Why did you tell everyone different stuff? What’s true?” Ayao looks at him, confused.

Rei gazes up at the ceiling, scanning the area. What is he doing… looking for the security cameras? The only one in the general hangout is pretty close to where we’re sitting.

“Alright,” he says, dragging a nearby chair over and standing on it to reach the security camera. He swiftly pulls a hammer out of his pocket and smashes the camera to bits right before our eyes. Where did he get that… the weapons room?

“What--?” Shōhei says as he stands up. I stand as well and take a step towards Rei.

“What are you doing!?” I question him.

“Needed to make sure they didn’t see me,” he states simply, stepping down from the chair and back towards us.

“Now, let’s make this quick- I know who the Mastermind is. No lying, no games here, I caught them doing something they didn’t wanna be caught doing. They’ve threatened to kill me if I tell you guys about it, so I had to make sure they wouldn’t see.” He gestures to the broken camera behind him.

“But that’s against the--” Shōhei starts before I interrupt him.

“Who is it?” I’m fully aware that what Rei just did breaks a huge rule. If he’s about to get punished for this, we at least need to hear what he has to say, quick.

“It’s funny ‘cause I’m sure every time I spread a rumour they must’ve thought I was about to say it,” he laughs a little and shakes his head.

“Who is it!?” I repeat, frustrated that he’s wasting the little time he has left.

“You see… I caught them faking their own death,” he begins to explain. The elevator door opens and a small army of Monokumas rush into the room, barreling straight towards Rei.

[TRIGGER WARNING] (skip past the next line if you don’t want any spoilers, but please read if you want to be prepared for any potentially triggering content.)  
 _bomb/explosion, large blood splatter_

“Tell us who it was!” I shout, desperate to hear his answer before he dies.

“Rei Ikemoto, you have violated Rule 5!” The small army of Monokumas all speak eerily in sync, and begin climbing on Rei. “‘Violence against headmaster Monokuma is strictly prohibited, as is destruction of surveillance cameras,’” they quote off the list of rules. 

“I-It was--” Rei struggles to speak with the Monokumas clinging to him. He grabs at them, desperately trying to get them off of himself, but he’s unsuccessful.

“You will now be punished! Bye bye!” All the Monokumas begin to beep as they continue to cling to Rei. I can hear his voice within the commotion, but I can’t make out what he’s saying. I try to read his lips, but I can’t… Who is the Mastermind?

“WHO IS IT!?” I scream in desperation.

I feel a hand on my shoulder, tugging me backwards behind a couch. I fall to the floor behind the couch and see Shōhei crouching down, hands covering his ears. Moving quickly I cover my own ears just in time as the Monokumas explode. Blood is spattered everywhere. Even with my attempts to protect myself from the sound, it was pretty loud, so there’s ringing in my ears. I take a moment before removing my hands from over my ears and take a couple deep breaths.

As the ringing begins to subside, I slowly peek over the edge of the couch. It’s mostly blood… all that remains are fragments of the exploded Monokumas, and pieces hardly recognizable as human.

Rei Ikemoto, the Ultimate Game Designer, is dead.

I’m frozen in place, shocked by what I’ve just witnessed. Moments later, another Monokuma appears, holding a replacement camera and a ladder. He leans the ladder against the wall and climbs up it, setting up the new camera in place of the one Rei broke. Considering how fast the replacement came in, it’s ridiculous that Rei was punished this harshly for breaking one…

He was an asshole, but he didn’t deserve to die like that. I can’t stop thinking about how he was trying to tell us who the Mastermind was, but I just couldn’t hear him… I couldn’t make out what he was saying…

I turn back to the others, and find them just as frozen in shock as I was a moment ago.

“Did any of you hear what he said? He was trying… to tell us… the Mastermind…” I struggle to get the words out, still trying to process what just happened. The tinnitus is mostly gone, but my ears are still adjusting and it’s hard to even hear myself speak.

Ko shakes their head no. They look back at where Rei stood and they gulp, before turning around and looking away.

“I didn’t…” Shōhei is breathing heavily, avoiding looking at Rei’s remains.

Ayao doesn’t respond and she starts to cry. She’s the first to leave the room, getting on the elevator and going up to the first deck.

I can’t stay here… I need to leave. I head to the nearest exit, which is not the elevator but the entrance to the dining hall. I sit down at the table and take a deep breath.

What the hell… was that? Rei… he’s dead. He’s gone, it all happened so quickly… it wasn’t even a murder case, he was just punished on the spot for breaking a rule. I wish I’d heard his last words, even if they were a lie… I feel like he really did know something, and was trying to help us. There was something different about him in that moment, after he broke the camera… he didn’t seem to be putting on an act like usual.

Part of me wonders if he’d have been punished so harshly if Monokuma hadn’t already been annoyed by Ayao’s near rule-break yesterday… It really isn’t her fault, but if she hadn’t almost fell asleep in the library yesterday, Rei might’ve had a chance of still being alive now. This whole game is so unfair…

I’m snapped out of my thoughts when I notice the key on the table. That’s right, since there was another death… I lean over and pick up the key, taking a look at it.

A magnifying glass… is this… for my talent room?

I glance behind me and into the general hangout. Everyone else has left… I can see some of the blood splatter from here. I stand up, take a deep breath, and quickly walk through the room, avoiding looking anywhere but forwards. I make it to the elevator and head down to the third deck.

I step off the elevator and walk through the hallway to the door marked with the same magnifying glass symbol as the key in my hand. I slowly unlock the door and push it open, stepping inside.

The room has beige walls with an old-fashioned wallpaper pattern. The furniture is dark brown. There’s a bookshelf full of case files, a desk in the center of the room, and a small couch off to one side with a coffee table in front of it.

I approach the shelves to see what kinds of case files there are. I pick one off the top shelf and bring it to the desk where I sit down and take a look.

The file is titled ‘Chapter 1’. I look through the pages… the first one is full of information on Rio. There’s a picture of them in the corner next to some general info like their name, age, talent, gender, height, and weight. The page is full of details on them and their past…

I flip to the next page. At the top is a photo of their body on the floor, just as we found it after they died. Below the photo there’s many detailed notes on the case, the Monokuma File, all relevant evidence, and how the entire thing happened. I recognize the handwriting… After a moment, I pull the photos out of my pocket and compare the notes on the back. It’s a match. Maybe the Mastermind wrote this…

The next page is similar to the first page, but with information on Chiyumi. And the final page in the file has a photo of Chiyumi’s corpse at the end of her execution, with notes planning out the entire execution underneath.

Curious, I put the pages back into the file and push it to the corner of the desk before standing up. I look at the other files on the shelf where I found it, and I find four more files similar to the first one. I take them all to the desk and sit down.

The file titled ‘Chapter 2’ has a page of information on Matt before a page detailing his death, and then a page of information on Sachiko before a page about her execution. The file titled ‘Chapter 3’ has a page of information on Fumie before a page detailing her death, and then… where I expect a page about Hirai, there’s nothing. The next page is information on Hitomi, and finally, her execution… Maybe Hirai’s death information is somewhere else, since the third class trial wasn’t focused on him…

The two files titled ‘Chapter 4’ and ‘Chapter 5’ are formatted the same, with pages on each victim, culprit, and their deaths. I place all the pages back into their files and put them away on the shelf.

On the shelf below the murder case files, there are several files, each labelled with different names of people on the ship. I take a few and bring them to the desk.

It looks like I’ve got… Matt, Fumie, Isao, and Ayao. I open up Matt’s first to take a look.

The first page is identical to the one found in the ‘Chapter 2’ case file. It’s a sheet of basic information on him. I set that aside and take a look at the second page.

It’s a sheet of lined paper, much less organized than the first page. At the top of the page, some notes are written. The handwriting is notably different from the messages on the photos.

‘First motive loved one - Jess Williams, sister  
not found, maybe Takeyo Kaba? easier to capture but less likely to get him to kill’

What… does this mean? Did the Mastermind try to capture Matt’s sister but was unable to find her? I feel like I recognize the name Takeyo Kaba…

[TRIGGER WARNING] (skip past the next line if you don’t want any spoilers, but please read if you want to be prepared for any potentially triggering content.)  
 _brief mention of a suicide attempt_

Lower down on the page, there’s another note.

‘Second motive secret and fear -  
Your deepest secret is that you once attempted suicide.  
Your greatest fear is that you’ll try again one day and succeed.’

My eyes widen as I read those words. He… survived a suicide attempt? I can see why he’d keep that secret, and why he seemed uncomfortable around the time of that motive…

Below that, I notice two sections in different handwriting under the subtitle, ‘Predictions’.

‘Takeshi kills to get them both out for the Chapter 3 motive, fails, Matt finds out about his stalking and his mental state gets worse. probably dies soon after that’

‘dies before Takeshi, probably as a victim’

The first prediction matches the writing from the photos, and the second prediction matches the motive notes at the top of the page. It looks… really familiar… who wrote this?

I stand up and walk back to the shelf, taking the rest of the files labelled with our names. The next one I open when I’m back at the desk is Ko’s.

I skim through the information page, since their info wasn’t in any of the murder case files. I take a look at the second sheet, which is formatted similarly to the one in Matt’s file.

‘First motive loved one - Toka Matsumoto, brother  
successfully captured’

The Mastermind kidnapped their brother… but he should still be alive, since he wasn’t mentioned in the announcements…

‘Second motive secret and fear -  
Your deepest secret is that you murdered one of your bullies.  
Your greatest fear is that you’ll be found out and arrested for your crime.’

What…? They killed someone…? After reading that, I feel like I’ve invaded their privacy… I guess I can’t un-read it, but it still feels strange. Plus, the way it’s phrased is so accusatory. Something tells me there’s more to it than that, maybe it was an accident…

Below that, just like in Matt’s file, there’s predictions from two people.

‘kills someone just like their bully! arrow through the skull!’

‘survivor’

Survivor… What do they mean by that? Does this thing really go on until there’s only two people left, and they predicted that Ko will be one of those people?

_“It is now 10pm. As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then... Sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite...”_

Today felt… long. I return the papers into Ko’s file and place all the files labelled with our names back on the shelf. It definitely feels like an invasion of privacy to read these… but there has to be some sort of clue within them. I decide to continue reading them tomorrow, and that I’ll tell the others about them. I think I can trust everyone that’s left alive right now…

I leave my talent room, using the key to lock it behind me. I take the elevator up to the first deck and head into my cabin, collapsing on my bed and falling asleep pretty quickly.


	28. Chapter 6: Day 3

_"Good morning, everyone! It is now 7am and nighttime is officially over! Time to rise and shine! Get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day! Oh, you think since Rei died for breaking a rule yesterday that you’re not getting your next motive yet? Wrong! Get to the theatre by 7:30 or you’ll share his fate!”_

Another… motive? I can’t believe this… I don’t want to do this anymore… The temptation to stay in bed and accept my punishment when it comes is strong, but I manage to drag myself out of bed. I’m not giving up yet… we need to make sure that no one falls for this motive. The four of us will get off this ship together, alive… we have to.

I leave my room and see Ko, Shōhei, and Ayao all heading for the elevator. The four of us descend to the second deck together in silence. When we get off the elevator, we see that Rei’s remains have been cleaned up overnight. We enter the theatre and all take seats together in the front row.

“That was quick! Guess it’s easy to get everyone together when there’s only four of you!” Monokuma appears from behind the curtains and faces us. No one speaks.

“I guess you’re all waiting to hear the motive, huh? This announcement is a little bit late, my apologies- it’s already in action. Anyways, if you kill for this motive, all the rest of the keys I’ve got will be dumped on the table in the dining hall! All remaining talent room keys, plus a special one!”

The only talent room we don’t have unlocked yet is… Hirai’s. Considering we haven’t found hints in any other talent room, I doubt that’d get us anywhere. As intriguing as the concept of a ‘special’ key is, there’s no way I’d kill just to find out what he means by that. I’m not gonna continue the killing game when my goal is to end it.

“No reactions? That’s no fun! Well, get killing! I assure you there’s a lot of things to see in the rooms you haven’t seen yet!” With that, Monokuma bounces behind the curtains again and disappears. The room falls silent.

“Yesterday, after Rei…” I break the silence, trailing off for a moment. “I found my talent room key in the dining hall. I spent the rest of the evening searching it… There’s some pretty interesting stuff in there, though I’m not sure if it’ll get us anywhere.”

“What… kind of stuff?” Shōhei asks.

“Case files… details about each murder case on this ship, as well as files about each of us and what looks like plans for the first two motives, involving our lives outside of the killing game.”

Ko’s eyes widen and they write on their whiteboard. ‘Did it say what our letters from the second motive said?’ I can tell they’re afraid that I read theirs.

“Yes, it did… You don’t have to worry, Ko. Considering what mine said…” I trail off again, recalling my motive letter. “If you all still trust me after that, then you’re fine.” Now that I think about it, I don’t remember seeing a case file with my name…

‘Assuming you read mine, I want you to know it was an accident.’ Ko holds up their whiteboard again, looking desperate for me to believe them.

“That’s what I figured. It’s okay, Ko.” I give them what I hope is a reassuring smile.

“Wait, what did Ko’s say?” Ayao leans over curiously.

“I think… if Ko is okay with it, we should all go to my talent room together and take a look at the files,” I suggest. “Maybe if we all search them together, we can find a clue.”

Ko nods and the four of us leave the theatre. We take the elevator to the third deck and I unlock my room once again, pushing the door wide open for us all to enter.

I walk to the shelf where the files were while the other three look around the room. I take all of the files with our names out once again and bring them to my desk, sitting down.

“How about we take half the files over here to the coffee table and check ‘em out, and leave half on the desk for you guys?” Ayao suggests.

“Sure,” I reply, handing Ayao half of the files. She and Ko take a seat on the small couch and start looking through the files on the coffee table, while Shōhei stands in front of me on the other side of the desk and starts looking at the ones we have here.

He starts by opening Isao’s. A sad expression appears on his face as he gazes at the photo of Isao. I place a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him, and he manages to regain focus and look at the next page.

“They thought… he was going to survive…” Shōhei speaks quietly. I lean over to read the predictions at the bottom of the sheet.

‘survivor maybe?’

‘late-game victim.’

“One of them did…” I think for a moment. “Each of those sheets have two predictions. Do you think there are… two Masterminds?”

“That could be…” Shōhei puts the papers back in Isao’s file and starts to look through another one.

The next one I look at is Takeshi’s. The first page is the same as the ‘Chapter 5’ case file… I flip to the second page.

‘First motive loved one - ???  
he doesn’t seem to care about anyone but Matt. we should be able to bypass this, someone will kill before we get through a full cycle’

So Takeshi really did only care about Matt… the Mastermind was so certain that someone would kill that they didn’t even have a plan for Takeshi in this motive.

‘Second motive secret and fear -  
Your deepest secret is that you’re the Ultimate Stalker and you’ve been stalking Matt Williams since the day you met him.  
Your greatest fear is losing Matt Williams.’

Yeah… I remember reading that during the second class trial, when Takeshi used it as proof to defend himself.

I continue onto the predictions.

‘kills for Matt in the third motive’

‘definitely kills for Matt, but probably not until after he’s died.’

It seems like the second person has been right about every prediction so far. Does that mean Ko will survive this…? It also makes me wonder… I search every file in front of me, and I don’t find one with my name.

“Ayao, Ko… do either of you have the file with my name?” I lean over to look past Shōhei to speak to the others.

“Umm…” Ayao looks through the files on the coffee table. “Nope.”

I furrow my brow in confusion. I look through the files in front of me again before standing up and searching the shelf. There aren’t any left behind… Where’s my file?

“Do you not have one?” Shōhei asks.

“I can’t find it…” All the other folders seem to be empty. Until, on the very bottom shelf, there’s one that’s very full… it’s not mine, but it seems important. As I’m taking it out, I notice a piece of paper on the floor poking out from underneath the shelves. I pick it up to see it’s another copy of the Junko photo.

I set the file down on my desk and look at the back of the photo. This one has a messy sketch of Monokuma…

“What’s that?” Shōhei takes a look at the file.

“Ooh, did you find another picture?” Ayao stands up and walks over to me, looking at the photo in my hand.

“Yeah… Rather than a note about ‘Junko’, this one has a drawing of Monokuma.” I hand the photo to Ayao, and she and Ko take a look at it.

I then turn back to the file I set on the desk that Shōhei has now opened.

“‘Danganronpa: Dead in the Water’,” Shōhei reads aloud.

“Dangan… Ronpa?” I ask, sitting back down and taking a look at the first page in the file.

There’s a photo of a cruise ship taking up the entire page, and over some of the water below the ship, there’s some stylized text saying what Shōhei read. In the corner, a vector image of a cruise ship pokes out from behind the text.

“It looks like a logo,” I observe. We pass the pages around one by one as we flip through the file.

The second page is a four by four grid, each box containing pictures of our faces. Underneath each face, there’s information about us - our names, ages, pronouns, and ultimate talents. I’m included in this list, so why was there no file with my name…?

The next sixteen pages are duplicates of the first pages in each person’s file. This is the first time I’ve seen my own, since I don’t have a file, nor was I involved in any of the murder cases. All of the info seems accurate… While skimming through the other pages, I notice that Takeshi’s talent is listed as ‘Paparazzi’. I recall that it was listed as ‘Stalker’ in the other files about him…

The next page after the information pages displays the logo once again, and some text that seems to be advertising the killing game. I read it aloud.

“‘This new series of Danganronpa will be streamed LIVE on my website! Watch all the murders unfold through security camera footage! More despairful than ever, welcome to Danganronpa: Dead in the Water!’”

“Live?” Ayao questions.

“Someone’s… streaming this whole thing?” Shōhei asks in disbelief.

“I don’t even want to think about what kind of person would want to watch this kind of thing, let alone who would plan it all out just to stream it online…” I set the page down before looking in the file again.

There’s one last page. It’s similar in layout to the ‘Dead in the Water’ advertisement, this one with much less text. The logo says ‘Danganronpa’ just as clearly, but the text underneath is blurred out. Rather than a ship in the corner, the shape appears to be that of a tall building. I read the text underneath aloud as well.

“‘Coming soon… Stay tuned for updates after Danganronpa: Dead in the Water!’”

This is… a lot to take in. Can we believe these things? What is ‘Danganronpa’? Are we really being broadcasted for anyone to see? Is that last page referring to a sequel? We can’t let this happen again, though Monokuma has implied that other killing games have happened in the past…

“If we’re being broadcasted, why hasn’t anyone come to save us yet?” Ayao asks, glancing at the pages on the desk.

“We are kind of in the middle of nowhere,” I mention, gesturing to the small window displaying endless ocean. “If no one knows where we are, then we can’t be rescued.”

“That, or…” Shōhei shudders at his thought before sharing it. “Whoever’s behind this is powerful enough that they’ve stopped any rescue attempts.”

Ko places their whiteboard on the desk and writes. ‘They must’ve left this in here for a reason, right? I’m sure we were meant to find this information. That could mean either it’s fake or that they were planning to tell us this all along.’

“You’re right… We are on what should be the last motive. Monokuma said that the killing game continues until there are two people left, so if another murder happens, we lose the killer and victim, and then it’s done… but that’s not gonna happen,” I state with confidence. I know these people won’t kill.

“Is there anything we can do…?” Shōhei asks with a hopeless expression.

“I think we just have to wait it out. Let the Mastermind get bored of us,” I say. “I doubt we can make any plans to stop the Mastermind, considering they have security cameras covering every inch of this place. They’d be able to see and presumably hear everything. And breaking them is not an option.” I stare at the camera surveying this room, recalling what happened to Rei just yesterday.

“Ooh, before, when we were swimming together, you guys said it was to practice for if we were forced to swim back home, like if we were kicked off the ship! Maybe we should practice more while we wait?” Ayao suggests.

“Good thinking.” I stand up. “I think we’ve probably found everything in here… Let’s get everything put back away on the shelves and then go to the pool.”

Everyone agrees with me and we organize everything back to how we found it. As I’m collecting the papers for the Danganronpa file, I look at the photo on the first page again. I focus on the ship… it definitely seems like the one we’re on. I wouldn’t have had a chance to look at it from the outside, but…

Something distant enters my mind, like a faded out memory. The layout of the ship fills my head, each deck mapped out in my brain… including the sixth deck. I remember… a room… another room, on the sixth deck, that we haven’t seen yet… Is that what Monokuma was talking about with the new motive? And… Why would I know about it?

“You okay, Seiki?” Ayao interrupts my thoughts.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I decide not to mention it for now and put the file away before leaving the room with the others.

After exiting my talent room, we all go up to the first deck and change into our swimsuits. We reunite in the hallway and take the elevator down to the fourth deck.

Once we get to the pool, we all get into the water relatively fast. Shōhei is quiet and expressionless, likely remembering Isao and how he couldn’t go in the water… having not thought about it since then, I realize that the reason behind that was likely due to his synthetic skin not being fully waterproof. Swimming might’ve put him at risk of being exposed as a cyborg, or worst case, being electrocuted and dying…

Not talking much, the four of us practice endurance swimming for as long as we can. We spend a few hours here, swimming laps around the pool and taking breaks every now and then. Hopefully this helps…

After we’re all tired out, we exit the pool and dry off.

“Oh boy, that was a workout…” Ayao sits on a chair outside of the pool, breathing heavily.

“We should get something to eat,” Shōhei suggests.

“Good idea,” I say, panting as well. I take a moment to sit down next to Ayao while I dry myself off.

Once we’re all mostly dry, we take the elevator back up to the first deck and change back into our regular clothes. We then head down to the second deck and into the kitchen.

“There’s still some leftover soup from when I made some recently,” I say, looking in the nearest fridge. “There should be enough for all of us.”

“Ooh, soup sounds good!” Ayao comes up next to me and grabs a big container of soup to set on the counter.

After warming up the leftover soup, we each grab a bowl and sit together in the dining hall to eat.

“What should we do tomorrow?” Shōhei asks, looking mostly at me.

“Why are you asking me?”

“Um, well… you’ve sort of taken up a leader-like position…” Shōhei looks at the table nervously.

“He’s right! You’re like our leader, you always come up with the best plans and ideas!” Ayao explains. Ko nods in agreement.

“I guess I have been sort of a leader… I hope I’m a good leader,” I giggle a little nervously.

“You are,” Shōhei reassures me. “You’re smart, you’ve helped us solve every case, and you’ve never let us give up.”

“Thank you,” I smile at the three of them. It’s awful, everything we’ve been through… but I truly feel like these three are my friends. Maybe the closest friends I’ve ever had… Trauma really does bring people together, huh?

“So, do you have any ideas for what we can do tomorrow?” Shōhei asks again.

“I’m not sure… Maybe we should take some time to enjoy the things on this ship, to relax. We could all play a board game together, and then spend some more time practicing swimming,” I suggest.

“That sounds like a good plan,” Shōhei says.

“I think so too! You’re so smart, Seiki!” Ayao grins at me before going back to eating her soup.

I smile back at her, blushing a little at her flattering. I continue my dinner as well, enjoying this time with these people.

If Rei was right, and the Mastermind did fake their death… I really can trust all three of the people in front of me. It still frustrates me that I didn’t get to hear what he was going to say… but considering he broke a rule just to let us know, I feel like he was serious. I’ll choose to believe him that the Mastermind did fake their death… but I don’t know who it might be…

After finishing eating, I offer to bring everyone’s bowls back to the kitchen. They all thank me before parting ways. When I’m done with the dishes, I take the elevator up to the first deck.

I sit on the bed in my cabin, thinking about the group we have left and all the deaths that we’ve witnessed thus far. It’s been… three weeks since I woke up in that theatre. In just three weeks, twelve people have died… I can’t help but feel like this whole thing is going to be wrapped up soon, like the story is about to reach its climax. I can only hope that the result of that is the rest of us getting to leave the ship and return home with some answers about the Mastermind and the killing game… and what ‘Danganronpa’ means.

_“It is now 10pm. As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then... Sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite...”_

After a while of sitting there, mind wandering, the nighttime announcement interrupts my thoughts and I decide to head to bed.


	29. Chapter 6: Day 4 + 5

I’m drifting in and out of consciousness. I didn’t hear the morning announcement… I assume it’s too early, and close my eyes in an attempt to fall back asleep.

After a little while longer of sleeping, I slowly get up. I assume I slept through the announcement, because it’s nearly 11am when I check the time. I get dressed and get ready to leave my cabin.

_“24 hours until the final class trial.”_

I recognize that voice. It’s a little hard to tell in a recording, but…

“That’s my voice…”

I quickly exit my room and take the elevator down to the second deck.

“Seiki! You’re okay!” Ayao runs over and hugs me. I hug back, confused.

“Y-yeah… wh… did you guys hear that announcement?” I pull back from the hug and look at all three of them.

“It… sounded like you,” Shōhei says.

“I promise it wasn’t me. I-I don’t know why it sounded like my voice, I don’t remember ever saying those words…” I approach them in the dining hall as I speak.

Ko holds up a key. No, two keys. I walk over to them and take the keys to have a closer look.

“What’s this…” One key appears to have a laptop symbol. The only talent room not unlocked yet is the Ultimate Blogger’s… The other’s symbol is Monokuma’s head.

“Remaining talent room keys,” I say, holding up the laptop one, “and a ‘special’ key…” I continue, holding up the Monokuma one.

“That’s what they look like,” Shōhei approaches behind me. “But no one is dead.”

“That’s why I was so scared, we only get keys when someone dies! And there’s two, and Shōhei mentioned the motive from yesterday, but I don’t know why they’re here if we’re all here…” Ayao looks confused.

“I… don’t know…” I turn the keys over in my hands. “Maybe we should look in the blogger’s room,” I suggest, not knowing where the Monokuma key might lead.

Ko shows a message on their whiteboard ‘I was up early, and there was no morning announcement at 7am. Then, just now, the announcement in your voice played, and the key showed up at the same time. Something’s going on.’

“Let’s go check it out then,” I say, holding up the key with the laptop symbol. The other three follow me onto the elevator and we head down to the third deck.

I lead the group into Hirai’s talent room. The walls are a pale pink, similar to his hair, and the furniture is white. There’s a desk against a wall with a closed laptop on it. The laptop has various cutesy stickers on the back. Hanging on the walls, there are various framed articles of Hirai’s, as well as awards for the success of his blog.

I approach the desk and start up the computer. There’s two profiles… I select the one with Hirai’s name.

“There’s a password,” I observe.

“Any ideas for what it might be?” Shōhei asks, looking at the screen over my shoulder.

“No…” I exit out of the login screen for Hirai’s profile and select ‘Guest’. There’s no password, and the profile opens up to the desktop.

There’s not much here… it’s identical to the computers in the library. The map has the same skull icons where each victim has died, and no access to a map of the sixth deck.

“It’s just like the library computers… I wonder what we could try as his password,” I say, logging out of ‘Guest’ and going back to the login screen for ‘Hirai’.

First I try typing in his name, ‘HiraiIchizo’. Nothing. I try his birthday, recalling that it was August 19th from the file with information on all of us. I format it in several different ways, none of which granting me access to his profile.

“Do you have any ideas?” I ask Shōhei, who’s still behind me.

“No… I didn’t spend a lot of time with Hirai. It could be anything…” He stops leaning down to look at the screen and looks around the rest of the room with Ayao and Ko. They’re currently reading some of the framed articles on his walls.

I shut down the computer and join them. They’re all articles about various ultimate talents, just like he mentioned when he told me about his blog. My mind wanders back to the strange conditions of his death. We had become fairly good friends before he was killed, it almost felt natural to talk to him… It still frustrates me that we don’t know what really happened, but finding a way off this ship is more important right now.

A thought crosses my mind and I turn to the others.

“Don’t you think it was weird how Monokuma described the motive yesterday? He said that it was already in action, and the announcement was late… Do you think somehow the reward for the motive was activated, and that’s why we got the keys?”

“Ooh, maybe!” Ayao turns around and looks at me.

“Then… we should find out where that Monokuma key leads,” Shōhei says.

I sigh and stare into the security camera in the corner of the room. “Monokuma?”

The others look at the camera as well. There’s nothing but silence.

“...Monokuma?” I raise my voice and step towards the camera.

“...Is he gone?” Ayao asks.

“I don’t know… this is strange.” I turn away from the camera, back towards the others.

Ko holds up their whiteboard. ‘Should we try looking for him?’

“As much as I don’t want to see that annoying little teddy bear, yes, I think we should.” I purposefully say things that might annoy him into showing up sooner.

The four of us leave the room and get onto the elevator. Before any of us can press a button, the doors close and it starts moving down.

“What the…” Shōhei voices the confusion we’re all experiencing.

The elevator descends to the sixth deck and opens up to the trial room. It’s empty… Even the stands with photo frames for all the dead students set up on the podiums for class trials are gone. The curtains that cover the execution zone during trials are drawn wide open and the area is empty and dark.

I slowly step off the elevator, the others following behind me. I walk around the room, observing how different it feels from when we’re forced to come here to solve murder cases. The bad feelings associated with this place are distant, but there.

I approach the empty execution zone. It’s even darker as I stand right next to it… I can almost sense all the people who died here, being punished for murder. As awful as it feels, I step up onto the slightly raised floor of the execution zone and begin to walk towards the back of the room.

“Can you see anything back there?” Shōhei calls from the trial room, not setting foot in the execution zone.

“Not really… it’s dark,” I respond. I continue forward until I feel the back wall. This area really is huge, but I guess that’s not a surprise with some of the executions we’ve seen…

I hear footsteps approach behind me. I quickly turn around, hardly able to see the person in the darkness. I sigh in relief when I realize it’s just Ko. I figure if it were anyone else they would’ve said something to let me know they were coming, but Ko couldn’t.

They point me towards the left corner of the execution zone, and we walk there together. Once I’m close enough, I can see the vague outline of a door, and feel around for the handle. I try to open it, but it’s locked. There’s a keyhole. I turn to address the other two, still in the trial room area.

“Hey, we found a door. I’m gonna try the Monokuma key on it.” After I say that, Shōhei and Ayao make their way through the execution zone as I put the key into the keyhole and turn. It unlocks and I slowly push the door open.

We step inside and take in our surroundings. The walls are a dark shade of pink while the floor and all the furniture is black. The room is fairly well lit, and on one wall, there’s a large display of screens showing security camera footage from all over the ship. The desk in front of the screen seems to have a keyboard and some other controls. I decide to look at the rest of the room before looking at that more closely.

In the center of the room, there’s a life-sized golden statue of the girl in the photos we found around the ship. There’s engraving in the base that reads ‘Junko Enoshima: Ultimate Despair’. 

“Enoshima… that’s the name of the ship!” Ayao exclaims. “The S.S. Enoshima, I remember from when we first got here!”

With that, plus the notes written on the photos we found, I can only assume I was right about the Mastermind looking up to this woman. A lot.

I look around more and see Shōhei looking inside a closet opposite to the door we entered through. I approach him and see what he’s looking at.

“Oh, Seiki. Looks like… the stands, from the trials…” I lean past Shōhei to see what he’s talking about. Inside the closet are sixteen stands, each set to a different height. From the closest ones, I can tell that they each hold a photo of one of our faces crossed out in blood coloured paint. At least, I hope it’s paint…

We step away from the closet without another word and I continue to look around. Another side of the room holds a small kitchen setup, nothing extravagant but enough for someone living alone. This could be where the Mastermind hid themselves throughout the killing game… or if Rei was right, ever since they faked their death.

There’s another closet near the kitchen. I take a look inside to see several inanimate Monokumas. I’m startled at first, before I realize they’re not moving. Still not wanting to risk my life by touching one of them, I step away from the closet and continue to look around.

In the last corner of the room that I haven’t checked, there’s three doors, and a ladder leading up into a passage through the ceiling. Mildly terrified of where the passage could lead, I start by approaching the doors and find two unlabelled while one has writing on the door that reads ‘Morgue’.

 _“This is a school announcement, kill each other, upupupu!”_ At the sound of Monokuma’s voice, I instantly turn around to face the others.

Ayao is sitting at the desk in front of the screen, a huge grin on her face as she giggles. She’s holding a PA system microphone that she presumably found on the desk.

“There’s a Monokuma button!” She points at the buttons as she holds it up to the three of us. We all approach from where we were searching.

There’s a regular switch to turn on the microphone, as well as an additional setting that apparently changes your voice into Monokuma’s with a filter. 

“Look, there’s all sorts of buttons here!” She puts down the microphone and starts pressing various buttons on the desk.

_"Good morning, everyone! It is now 7am and nighttime is officially over! Time to rise and shine! Get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day!"_

_“There’s all the announcements!” She giggles and starts to press the others._

_“It is now 10pm. As such, it is offici-”_

_"Good morning, everyone! It is now 7a-"_

_ding dong dong ding “A body ha-"_

_"Good morni-"_

_“It is now 10pm. As-”_

_ding dong dong ding “A body has been discovered! After a certain amount of time, which you may use however you like, the class trial will begin!"_

I grab her hand away from the buttons as the body discovery announcement plays out. “We shouldn’t mess with that too much…”

“You’re right…” She pouts a little before jumping up from the chair and looking around the room more.

I turn back to where I was looking before and glance at the door to the morgue. Would there really be bodies in there…?

“Huh…” Shōhei approaches me and looks where I’m looking. “Should we check it out?”

“Probably… I’m not so eager to go in there, so maybe we should look at these rooms first.” I direct Shōhei to the two unlabelled doors.

He steps ahead of me and opens one. Inside is a small bathroom with a pretty standard toilet, sink, and shower setup.

Shōhei and I leave the bathroom and find Ko and Ayao looking at the other unlabelled door. They open it and we follow them inside.

It’s a small bedroom, about the size of our cabins. The walls are bright blood pink and the bedsheets have a tiled Monokuma print on them. I open the dresser to find it empty. Maybe the Mastermind cleared it out before we got here… We leave the room, back into the main area.

Finally, I approach the door to the morgue. Finished looking everywhere else, the other three join me. I take a deep breath and turn the doorknob before pushing it open. The four of us walk inside.

[TRIGGER WARNING] (skip past the next line if you don’t want any spoilers, but please read if you want to be prepared for any potentially triggering content.)  
 _descriptions of all the corpses thus far_

“Brr, it’s really cold in here…” Ayao wraps her arms around herself in a hug, shivering. It is cold… but that makes sense for a morgue.

I look around the room. There’s sixteen lockers… each labelled with one of our names. I find my own and slowly open it… It’s empty. That makes sense, considering I’m alive and standing here, but I was a little scared despite that.

“Do you think everyone who’s…” Shōhei trails off as he approaches Isao’s locker.

“Yeah, probably.” I close the locker with my name and walk over to Shōhei.

He hesitantly opens the locker. All four of us are standing around it… sure enough, Isao’s body is inside. It’s not covered by anything… I notice one of Shōhei’s scarves wrapped around his head like a bandage. I guess he must’ve done that after the trial…

I look at Shōhei. He seems to be holding back tears… I place a hand on his shoulder for a moment before turning to look at some of the other lockers.

I can’t help but be curious… with the executions, would their bodies still be here? I open Chiyumi’s locker. There she is… the black, charred form of what was once the Ultimate Pastry Chef. I close the locker, unable to look for too long.

Ayao is looking in Rio’s locker, and Ko is looking in Hitomi’s. Wasn’t Hitomi crushed…? I approach Ko and peek inside.

It’s a horrible sight. Her body is squished flat and hardly recognizable… How did they even get her here?

Ko closes the locker and I move on to check another one. Hirai’s body is in his, looking much less injured than the others… his face really is unrecognizable. After that, I move onto Matt’s… His hoodie is zipped over his chest. I reluctantly reach over and unzip the hoodie… his chest has been cut open, some of his ribs are broken, and his heart is very clearly missing. I guess I was right about what Takeshi did… I close his locker and turn to see Ayao looking at Takeshi’s corpse.

He seems to have some cuts and bruises all over his body, due to how he fell into the pile of broken glass and pieces of his wardrobe at the end of his execution. There’s a large wound from the knife that was dropped into his chest.

Despite how much I don’t want to, I look at every corpse, feeling it to be important to thoroughly investigate this area. They’re all exactly as we last saw them… Sachiko has thin cuts from the ropes that held her, deeper wounds in her fingers from the blades on the chess pieces, and bruising on her neck from the rope that hung her. Fumie still has the bruises on her neck and the scarf fibres under her fingernails. Mizuki’s upper body is still destroyed, her face remaining untouched and mostly peaceful. And Kan…

It hurts to see Kan’s body in the same state as the end of his execution. It’s just a reminder of how horrible and unfair this whole situation is… He didn’t deserve any second of that punishment. Not that any of the killers deserved what they got, but it wasn’t even his fault… He didn’t deserve to get torn to shreds like this. I can hardly even tell it’s him anymore. His face has been scratched up, but it’s still definitely him… I quickly close the locker so I don’t have to look any longer.

Lastly, I check Rei’s locker. There’s… really not much left… It’s mostly a puddle of blood and a few bits of human. His death might’ve been the most brutal of them all, but at least it was over quickly…

Queasy from seeing all the corpses back to back, I step out of the morgue. The others follow me, and Ko closes the door, being the last one out.

“I don’t like that room…” Ayao frowns.

“Me neither. I feel like knowing the corpses are still here is an important piece of information, though,” I explain.

“I think we should leave… this whole area gives me a bad feeling,” Shōhei says before heading towards the door we entered through.

“Wait…” I approach the ladder I noticed before. “I’m interested to know where this leads.”

“Looks scary…” Ayao comments, peeking up at the dark tunnel the ladder disappears into.

“You guys don’t have to come with me, but I’d like if you could stay here while I look. If something happens and I fall back down, I want someone to be here to catch me, or at least help me up…”

“Of course I’ll stay! You’ve done so much to help us!” Ayao enthusiastically agrees. Shōhei and Ko both nod and I start to climb the ladder.

It gets darker as I climb higher. It’s not long before I hit a ceiling. Holding onto the ladder with one hand, I use the other to feel around. It’s something like a hatch, or a trapdoor… I can’t open it. After some pushing, I give up and climb back down the ladder.

“Was there anything up there?” Shōhei asks as I step back onto the floor.

“Some kind of door, like a hatch or a trapdoor. I couldn’t get it open, but I assume it leads somewhere that the Mastermind could easily get to and sneak into this room,” I explain.

“Did we see everything in here?” Ayao asks. “I wanna go now, I don’t like this room…”

“Yeah, I think we’ve searched everywhere we can,” I confirm, straightening out my clothes and heading towards the door we entered through before pausing.

“I know I’m wearing full leg stockings but none of you better have looked up my skirt,” I comment, still facing away from the others.

“I swear I didn’t!!” Ayao insists.

“I’m… not even interested in women, so you don’t have to worry about me,” Shōhei reassures me.

Ko walks up next to me with their whiteboard out. ‘I’m not even interested in anyone.’ They kinda shrug and smile a little as they show me the message.

I laugh quietly, more of just an exhale through my nose as I shake my head and turn back towards the door. I walk out, the others following me, and we get on the elevator.

“That announcement, in my voice… was at 11am, right?” I recall as I press the button for the second deck.

“Yep, I remember checking the time when it happened!” Ayao confirms.

“It said ‘24 hours until the final class trial.’ So… I figure tomorrow at 11am, there’ll be a class trial… but what for?” I express my confusion.

Ko scribbles a message and holds up their whiteboard for us to read. ‘Maybe to find out who the Mastermind is. If it’s the FINAL class trial, that would make sense.’

“It could be…” I try to think of possibilities as the elevator doors open and we all step off into the general hangout area. “I think we’ve searched everywhere we can on the ship for information. Is there anywhere else you guys can think of?”

“No…” Shōhei fiddles with his scarf. “If we just got access to that room on the sixth deck, I feel like that’s where most of the clues would be found. Since we searched it thoroughly, I doubt there’s anything else relevant that we need to find before this trial.”

“You’re probably right…” I pause for a moment and realize how hungry I am. After sleeping in and not eating all day… quite a bit of time has passed, it’s nearly evening by now. “We should make some food,” I suggest.

“Good idea! I’m hungry,” Ayao says, leading the group through the dining hall and into the kitchen.

I don’t know if any of us have the energy to put much effort into making a dish… I find a pre-made lasagna in the freezer and take a look at the directions.

“Ooh, lasagna!” Ayao peeks over at what I’m doing. “We should make a side dish to go with it! Maybe…” Ayao looks off in the distance, deep in thought. “Salad? I don’t really know how to make a lot of things, salad is easy!” She grins at me.

“Sounds good,” I say. I get to work on following the directions on the lasagna while the other three start chopping up ingredients for a salad.

Not long after, dinner is ready, and we bring the lasagna and salad out to the dining hall. We eat together, talking and laughing like friends, just enjoying our meal together. We avoid any topics relating to the killing game or the ‘final class trial’ tomorrow, though we’re all probably wondering the same thing deep down… What exactly is this trial going to be like?

I go to bed fairly soon after dinner, somehow exhausted despite sleeping in this morning. I’m not at all woken up by the nighttime announcement, so I assume there wasn’t one.

…

I wake up around 7:30 the next morning. No morning announcement… I get up and get dressed, leaving my cabin to prepare myself for the trial.

First, I take the elevator down to the fifth deck. I make coffee in the café and pour two cups, carefully bringing them up to the second deck and into the dining hall. I set them down on the table and enter the kitchen.

“Morning, Seiki!” Ayao turns around and grins at me when she hears the door. “I’m making breakfast for everyone!!” I take a look at what she’s doing, and it looks like she’s about to burn some scrambled eggs.

“Here, let me help you.” I walk past her and save the eggs before they’re inedible.

“Oh, thanks! I’m not really good at eggs…” She then turns to another pan, this one full of bacon. It looks like it’s getting a little crispy…

“Here, let me…” I push a little past her and save the bacon as well.

“Eheh… guess I’m not too good at breakfast, huh?” Ayao giggles, scratching the back of her head.

“It’s alright, you’ll learn. Thank you for making food, anyways. I’m glad I could help you not burn it.” I smile at her.

“No problem! And thanks! I wanted to make sure everyone got a nice breakfast since I don’t know what’s happening after this trial. You guys were worried about getting dumped out of the ship without a boat, and if that happens at any time, it might be after this… so I thought it’d be better to have a good breakfast before that!”

“That’s very thoughtful and kind of you, Ayao.” Her comment makes me worried about the outcome of this trial as well… but if we’re able to stick together, I think it’ll be okay.

“Alright! I’ll go get Shōhei and Ko!” With that, she runs out of the kitchen.

I carefully pick up the plates of food and bring them out to the dining hall. While I wait for her to come back, I divide the eggs into four equal parts on separate plates and take a seat.

The three of them come into the dining hall together and sit down to eat.

“Shōhei, I brought you some coffee from the café,” I mention. “I only got two cups since we’re the only coffee drinkers.” I leave out mentioning the other coffee drinkers that are no longer with us.

“Oh, thank you.” Shōhei smiles at me, accepting the cup of coffee.

The four of us enjoy breakfast together. I’m almost able to forget about the looming ‘final class trial’, until…

_“5 minutes until the final class trial.”_

It’s still kind of jarring to hear an announcement in my voice, saying something I have no memory of recording… I check the clock and it’s 10:55am, as I expected.

“It’s almost time…” Ayao looks down at her empty plate, seeming nervous.

“I’ll bring the dishes back to the kitchen,” Shōhei says, standing up. He collects everyone's plates as well as both of our coffee cups.

“Thanks,” I say to him as he leaves the dining hall.

Ko looks nervous, fidgeting with the sleeves of their hoodie. The room is quiet… Shōhei comes back out of the kitchen, and it’s almost time.

We leave the dining hall and spend the last couple minutes in the general hangout area, waiting for the elevator to come get us. When it’s finally time, the elevator doors open on their own, and the four of us stand up and walk in.

Just like every trial before this, the elevator descends to the sixth deck. This is the first time we’re going in completely unaware of what to expect. Even with the first class trial, we at least knew our objective. I take a deep breath before the doors open to the sixth deck, doing my best to mentally prepare myself for whatever we were about to experience.


	30. Chapter 6: Class Trial

When we enter the trial room, the stands set up around the circle of podiums are back. Only four empty spots remain… Shōhei, Ko, Ayao, and I each step up to our podiums.

As if this were a normal class trial, once we’ve all taken our places, Monokuma appears in his chair.

“Welcome to the final class trial! You know the drill! Your votes determine the results. Figure out ‘whodunnit,’ or you’ll all be punished and the blackened will graduate! I’ll let you know when it’s voting time!”

“What…?” Shōhei stares at Monokuma in shock.

“You heard me! Get discussing!”

“Monokuma…” I face the bear. “There hasn’t… been a murder. What exactly are we discussing here?

“Of course there’s been a murder, silly! Didn’t I say the whole motive thing was running behind schedule? It actually happened a while ago, you guys remember, don’t you? The murder case you all wanted to solve but never got a trial for. The fourth victim? They were killed for this motive, after all! I would apologize for running so late with all this, but I really don’t care, so just get to it!” He leans back in his chair, satisfied with his explanation.

The fourth victim… “Hirai…?”

“Yes, Hirai was the fourth victim, and because of Hitomi’s crime, we never solved his case,” Shōhei confirms.

“I mean, Rei confessed, but Seiki didn’t seem sure he was telling the truth…” Ayao says.

Ko holds up their whiteboard. ‘He’s not even here to be executed even if it was him.’

“Shortly before Rei’s… punishment, he was talking to me about something. He was still keeping up his lies about being the Mastermind, but he made an interesting point… he said he thought the Mastermind killed Hirai because he knew something,” I explain.

“Because he knew something… like what?” Shōhei asks.

“My guess would be the identity of the Mastermind, but if he were killed for that alone, then it wouldn’t make sense for them to let Rei live until he almost told us. That is, if Rei was telling the truth. Maybe Hirai knew something more, like a weakness, a way to stop the Mastermind…” I trail off, trying to think.

“I don’t know if we should believe Rei…” Shōhei seems unconvinced. “He was never that trustworthy. How do we know he wasn’t lying in his last moments about knowing who the Mastermind was? How can we trust that he was right about them faking their death?”

“You’re right… he was never very nice, and lied a lot…” Ayao pouts. “He always pushed the trials in different ways like he was playing around with us. Like he was having fun and wasn’t scared of getting it wrong.”

“I understand if you’re hesitant to believe him, but he seemed different in his last moments. He knew he was about to die, so why would he mess with us further? It’s hard to understand him, but I think most of what he did was to see our reactions. If he knew he wouldn’t be around to see that, then I don’t think he’d keep up the lies…” I feel like I’m repeating the same thing in different words, but I feel like we need to trust him. We don’t have any other leads.

“I’m not sure, Seiki…” Shōhei trails off a little, and hesitates to continue speaking. “I-I… really don’t like to accuse people in these trials… but Seiki…” He pauses and takes a deep breath. “It was your voice in those announcements…” His words pick up speed as he continues, seeming a little more sure of himself. “I want to trust you and it would be hard to believe that you’re the Mastermind, but you’re the one insisting we believe Rei. To believe what he said eliminates you as a suspect, since you didn’t fake your death.” He nervously looks down and fidgets with his scarf as he finishes speaking.

Ayao and Ko both look at me nervously. I take a deep breath and try to stay calm as I think of how to refute Shōhei’s accusation. If I get too defensive, they’ll use that against me… I like to think I’ve built their trust, but a class trial is the perfect opportunity to disregard all trust and point fingers at anyone.

“I’m not the Mastermind,” I speak calmly and honestly, looking into Shōhei’s eyes. “I understand what it looks like… but I’m pretty sure those clips of my voice were recorded within the section of my memory that I’m missing. I don’t know what sort of connection I have to all this… but I believe the Mastermind used my voice to make you all more suspicious of me.”

‘I believe you.’ Ko shows me their written message.

Shōhei wordlessly nods, seeming relieved to hear my defense. He really does want to trust me…

“I don’t think Seiki’s the Mastermind… but I don’t know who it is!” Ayao complains. “Maybe Rei was right, but how do we knooow?”

“If you’ll trust me on this, I think we should believe Rei for now. We can discuss who the Mastermind could be if they faked their death, and if it gets us nowhere, we can go back to suspecting each other… but I think we should stick together on this.”

“I trust you…” Shōhei still seems a little hesitant, but agrees.

“I trust you, Seiki! You’re too nice to be the Mastermind!” Ayao grins at me.

“That’s a little naïve… but I appreciate it,” I say to Ayao. I then turn back to face the whole group. “I think we should discuss every death up to this point and consider whether the person would’ve been able to hide the fact that they’re not actually dead.”

“That’s a good plan. Should we start from the first death and continue up until the most recent?” Shōhei asks.

“Yes, that’s what I was thinking.  
The first death was Rio Uchiyama. They died from eating a poisoned cupcake. I remember investigating their body, and I don’t think there’s any chance they could’ve still been alive.  
The second death was Chiyumi Sakuma. She was burnt to a crisp in her execution… I don’t think there was any chance for her to escape that.  
The third death was Matt Williams. He died from a fatal head injury, and again, during the investigation, we verified that he was dead.  
The fourth death was Sachiko Osaki. She very clearly died in her execution… seeing her body again in the morgue, it was no doubt her.  
The fifth death was Fumie Fukuma. She died by strangulation… we confirmed she was dead during the investigation as well.  
The sixth death was Hirai Ichizo. It was hard to even recognize him with his face burnt off… but he was definitely dead.  
The seventh death was Hitomi Takara. Her body in the morgue was almost unrecognizable as her, but we watched her through the entire execution and there was no chance for her to escape.  
The eighth death was Mizuki Nakahara. She was definitely dead during the investigation, and it was unmistakably her body in the morgue.  
The ninth death was Kan Tsukiyomi. His execution was brutal… and there was no possible way for him to have escaped it.  
The tenth death was Isao Sonozaki. We all saw it happen in front of us… despite being a cyborg, his brain was too damaged for any possibility of repair.  
The eleventh death was Takeshi Ueda. Again, there was no way he could’ve escaped his execution, and that was no doubt his body in the morgue.  
And finally, the twelfth death was Rei Ikemoto. He died right in front of us, almost nothing of him remained… there’s no way he could’ve survived that.” I take a deep breath after going through all the deaths thus far, having absolutely no idea which one of them could’ve been falsified.

“They were all definitely dead…” Shōhei comments. Ko nods, agreeing with him.

“Maybe… What if one of them was a fake corpse?” Ayao suggests.

“Fake corpse?” I think I get what she means, but I’m not sure…

“I think… the executions can probably be ruled out, since they were right in front of us. Same with Isao, and Rei,” She explains. “Maybe it was one of the earlier victims. They put a fake corpse somewhere, and… convinced someone that they killed them, so there would be a culprit in the case!”

“That… doesn’t make any sense,” Shōhei says. “Even being the Mastermind… how would they convince someone that they’d committed murder? And a fake corpse… I think we would notice if one of the victims’ bodies wasn’t real.”

“Maybe… one of them we didn’t look at close enough?” Ayao seems to be doubting herself.

“I think Ayao might be on the right track, but taking it the wrong way,” I say. Shōhei and Ko look at me quizzically, and Ayao looks surprised that she was potentially getting anywhere with that.

“I don’t think the corpse itself would be fake, but rather… someone else’s body. Someone who looked nearly identical to the person we thought they were,” I explain.

“Ohh, yeah! That’s what I meant!” Ayao acts as if that was what she was intending to say all along.

‘Did any of the victims have twins?’ Ko holds up their whiteboard, considering how an identical corpse could exist.

“Fumie had a twin, Asami Fukuma,” I recall. “She was killed for the first motive. We never saw her death, so it could’ve happened later…”

“Hitomi had spent the evening with Fumie before killing her, though,” Shōhei mentions. “Surely, if she noticed something off about her, she would’ve mentioned that in the trial… right?”

“I remember seeing a picture of Asami in Fumie’s talent room!” Ayao exclaims. “She had glasses, and different coloured hair and eyes, and Fumie had freckles but Asami didn’t!”

“I saw the picture, too,” I say, recalling the image on one of the band’s album covers. “Besides that, the two looked identical. If Fumie is the Mastermind and faked her death using her sister, then she could’ve dyed her hair, given her coloured contacts, and applied freckle makeup to match their appearances completely.”

Ko holds up their whiteboard again. ‘I remember Hitomi and Fumie leaving together after we had Kan’s banana bread that evening. I don’t know if Fumie would’ve had a chance to swap out with Asami, or if Asami had already taken her place by that point.’

Is it really Fumie…? I try to think of any sort of way we could disprove that… Suddenly, it comes to me.

“Monokuma, would we be able to hear the voice recording from Asami Fukuma back from the first motive?” I distinctly remember Fumie’s voice, but it’s been so long since I heard that clip that I don’t remember how different it is.

“Of course!” Monokuma presses a button and the clip plays over the speakers.

 _“Fumie? W-what did you do with my sister? P-please don’t hurt her, she’s been through enough already… I-I’ll do anything just pl-”_ The audio cuts off abruptly.

“That’s definitely different,” Shōhei comments.

“For how similar they look, they sound nothing alike!” Ayao adds in amazement.

“I agree. With how Hitomi killed Fumie, there’s no way she wouldn’t have noticed if it wasn’t her. I don’t know if this can rule out Fumie completely, but it’s certainly less likely…” I take a deep breath as I try to think of what to discuss next.

“I would suggest that… if Fumie were the Mastermind, she could’ve somehow forced Hitomi into lying about it, but…” Shōhei seems unsure of himself.

“I think Hitomi’s emotional response towards the end of her trial was too genuine to be faked, but that could be the case…” I glance at Monokuma. “We should discuss some other leads and see if we get any clearer answers. I don’t know how much time we have, but we might be able to come back to this later.”

“You’re right!” Ayao agrees with me. “Umm, Ko asked about twins! Were there any other twins?”

“Kan had a twin sister named Kayo,” I recall. “I never saw a picture of her, so I don’t know how alike they looked. I can’t imagine they’d be as identical as Fumie and Asami, with Kayo being a girl…”

‘I don’t think there was a chance for Kan to have escaped before or during his execution. I think we can trust him.’ Ko sighs, brows furrowed as they show their message.

“Twins might be the easiest answer, but that doesn’t mean it’s the only way for two people to look alike…” I try to consider every possibility. “The odds are low that the Mastermind could’ve found someone that looks identical to them in every way without being related. Were there any bodies that looked unrecognizable after death?”

“They all looked like our friends… I don’t know…” Ayao seems upset as she recalls yesterday’s visit to the morgue.

Ko scribbles something on their whiteboard and holds it up. ‘I think it was pretty hard to identify Chiyumi, Hitomi, Rei, and Hirai.’

“You’re right, Ko.” I recall each of the four they listed. “Chiyumi was burnt so badly it was hard to recognize her. Her execution was so long ago that it’s hard to remember, plus with how horrible it was, I wouldn’t be surprised if we’ve blocked out the memories by now… but does anyone remember a point where she could’ve escaped or swapped herself out for someone else?”

“I don’t remember… I didn’t even really watch it…” Shōhei fidgets with his scarf again.

“Me neither, it got too scary when they put her in an oven…” Ayao looks disturbed recalling the events of Chiyumi’s execution.

‘I didn’t want to watch, but I couldn’t take my eyes off her. I still don’t like thinking about it, but I’m pretty sure she couldn’t have escaped.’ Ko looks down as they show their whiteboard.

“Let’s move down the list for now… Hitomi’s entire body was crushed, so it was kind of hard to tell it was her in the morgue. Did anyone watch her execution enough to tell if she could’ve escaped or swapped out?”

“I did…” Shōhei speaks up, clearly disturbed remembering it as well. “She couldn’t have. She was dragged right out of Mizuki’s arms. Then she was stuck on that bookshelf, and when she jumped down, there was nowhere for her to go…”

The other two remain silent. I recall Ko’s list. “What about… Rei’s death? We were all hiding behind furniture, did anyone actually see the explosion?”

“I…” Ayao bursts into tears. “It was awful, he was just standing there, covered in Monokumas, and then-” Her words break off into sobs. She manages to calm down enough to finish her sentence. “He died right there, he couldn’t have faked it, plus he was saying the Mastermind already faked their death…”

I give her a sympathetic look, hoping to provide at least a little comfort.

“Then Hirai…” I recall the details of Hirai’s corpse. “His face was completely burnt off and his cause of death was unknown. But with the shape of his body, as well as his hair and outfit… is there really a chance that it wasn’t him we found in the pool?”

Everyone’s silent for a moment, deep in thought. My own mind races as I try to think about Hirai’s actions up to his death, and how that’s technically the case we’re here to solve. It’s only a theory that the Mastermind did it, but who else could it be…

“Wait…” Shōhei speaks up. “Monokuma, can you repeat what you said at the start of the trial when you answered Seiki’s question? What exactly are we discussing in this trial?”

“Of course I can! You’re discussing who killed the fourth victim!” Monokuma repeats with confidence.

“Could you tell us the name of the fourth victim?” Shōhei asks.

“Don’t you know already?”

“No, I’m not certain. That’s why I’m asking you. Who was the fourth victim?” Shōhei glares at Monokuma.

“It was Hirai-” Ayao starts, cut off by Shōhei shooting her a glance as if to say ‘Trust me.’

“You know already,” Monokuma turns to face me. “Seiki, don’t you know? You really should remember it by now, considering how many hints I’ve given you this whole time! I know you remember some things, you even admitted that you recognized the name! C’mon, think about it! You really don’t remember who the fourth victim was?”

“Huh…?” Is he referring to… my lost memories?

Bewildered, I gaze at Monokuma. I try to think of what he’s talking about… desperately trying to remember… and then it comes to me.

_“My name is Sawao Yasuda. Nice to meet you!” The person extended a hand for me to shake. Another person stood behind them, keeping quiet, only shooting me a brief glance._

_“Nice to meet you too. Seiki Hoshino.”_

_“Oh, I already know who you are! He told me all about you. I’m absolutely honoured to have been chosen for this position. Let me know if you have any requests of me before I must die.” Sawao smiled kindly at me._

_“Alright! I think everything’s in place now! Seiki, you ready to go blend in with the other students?” The pink haired boy slung an arm around my shoulder._

_“I…” I sighed, unsure of what to say._

_“Seiki…? What’s wrong?”_

_“Hirai… I don’t think we should do this.”_

I…

I remember…

“The fourth victim… was Sawao Yasuda,” I state.

“You do remember!” Monokuma grins at me.

“Huh…? Wasn’t that… the name of your best friend?” Shōhei asks.

“No… I was never close to them. I hardly even met them…” My mind is racing as various memories from the past five years fill my head.

“You remember who they are now?” Ayao asks.

“Yes. I remember… a lot…” I’m trying to process my memories. Are they true…? They must be…

“So, Seiki, do you know who killed Sawao Yasuda?” Monokuma interrupts my thoughts.

“It was you,” I say directly to Monokuma. “Hirai Ichizo.”

“Huh!?” Ayao expresses her shock loudly.

“It’s over, Hirai.” I stare directly into Monokuma’s eyes. “I’m not on your side anymore.”

“Anymore…?” Shōhei stares at me in confusion.

“Upupupu! Guess it’s time for the big reveal, huh?” Monokuma falls over as soon as he’s finished talking, and the pedestal on which his chair stood sinks into the floor. Raising up in its place is a podium just like the ones filling the rest of the circle, with a person already standing at it as it clicks into place.

Hirai stands before us, very much alive. Among his array of hair clips, he now wears two clips along the front that are each either half of Monokuma as a full bear face, similar to the ones that Junko wore in the photos we found.

“H… Hirai?” Ayao stares at him, mouth open in shock. Shōhei and Ko are both also staring at him in shock.

“Long time no see, everyone! Miss me?” Hirai grins at us all.

“Y-you’re…” Shōhei’s words trail off.

“The Mastermind? Yup! Ohhh I’ve been waiting for this!” Hirai claps his hands excitedly. “So, tell me about how much you despise me now! How horrible and awful I am for bringing you all here, making you kill each other!”

“You’re… evil!” Ayao shouts at him, pouting.

“Yes, exactly! Get mad at me! I’m such an awful person, aren’t I?” Hirai grins at her.

“How could you do this to us?” She continues.

“Ayao, stop. That’s exactly what he wants,” I tell her before turning to Hirai. “I can’t believe I ever worked with you on this… I regret not realizing sooner and stopping you before the killing game could start. You must know I’ll never join your side again.”

“Hmm, guess I kinda figured that. I was gonna ask anyways, or just force you to, but I don’t wanna risk you betraying me. So I figured I could tell everyone our epic backstory and then drown you all here!” Hirai explains, keeping his bright smile through the whole thing.

“What’s the point if you’re just going to kill us?” Shōhei asks.

“For the audience, dummy! Didn’t you figure it out from all the shit in Seiki’s talent room? This is being broadcasted live for all my followers! That’s what my blog is for, after all! They wanna see your hope get crushed into despair as you learn the truth about the outside world, how different it is from what you remember, before I kill you all here anyways!” He pauses, grinning at Shōhei.

“Different…?” Shōhei questions in shock.

“Anyways, I’ll get to explaining now. Unless Seiki wants to do it for me, now that she remembers all the awful things she’s done.” He gives me a teasing look.

“I’ll never do anything for you,” I spit the words at him like venom.

“You’re so sweet, Seiki,” Hirai remarks, his words drenched in sarcasm. “Anyways, let’s get to it! What exactly is going on in the world outside this ship?” A screen descends from the ceiling, displaying a photo of Hope’s Peak Academy. He begins to explain as if this were some sort of class presentation.

“It all started five years ago with The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History! Also known as The Tragedy! Basically, Junko Enoshima-” Hirai clicks a button I hadn’t noticed he was holding, and the screen changes to the same image we found various copies of on the ship, “-had a bunch of people kill each other at Hope’s Peak Academy! She did this more than once, actually-”

He clicks the button again, displaying fifteen students that look around our age. “-Here’s the cast for the first main Danganronpa killing game! Aaaand-” Button click to a group of sixteen students. “-here’s the second one! This one was actually in a digital world, and happened a bit after most of the stuff that led all of us here-”

On this button click, a group of five children appear on screen. “These are the Warriors of Hope! Led by Monaca in the middle there, they used mind control on kids all across Japan, including all sixteen of us in this killing game! That’s what really inspired me on the path of despair! A good few years later-”

He clicks it again, showing a photo of him and I together. “-I met Seiki! This was about a year ago now, she found my blog post talking about planning a killing game, and she wanted to help me with it! I’d tried to do killing games on my own before, but I always got bored and killed off the whole cast. Seiki helped me develop a clearer plan for this one, and even helped me work on plans for the next one-- Oops! No spoilers! Anyways, she had the idea for me to fake my death if the third killer only killed one person, and so I put my body measurements up on my blog and we found-”

Button click, displaying a photo of someone with the same body shape as Hirai but with a very different facial structure as well as longer, messier, darker hair and a significantly different outfit. “-Sawao! They were so happy to be a part of my killing game that they gladly gave up their life for me! And that brings us to-”

He clicks again, showing an overhead shot of all of us talking in the theatre. “-The start of Danganronpa: Dead in the Water! Right before that, Seiki decided despair was not for her, so I erased her memory! What’s this about memory? I guess the rest of you are wondering why you don’t remember any of this despair stuff! Well that’s because-”

On another button click, the screen displays a photo of fourteen students - every killing game participant besides Hirai and I - lying down with strange machines over their heads. “Seiki and I simulated what the past five years of your memories would be like if the world hadn’t fallen into despair! A lot of it is based on what really happened, but modified to fit into a normal world! If you ever wondered how I knew so much about you all, it’s because everything I knew was from these five years of false memories! Using Junko’s memory controlling technology, we were able to erase the past five years of your memories and replace them with these simulated ones! Of course, anyone who knew each other had their simulations connected, for example Takeshi and Matt’s simulated memories were structured in such a way that they both remembered their past five years together the same!”

He clicks the button again, and it shows another shot of all of us together towards the beginning of the killing game, looking around the ship. “Anyways, when Seiki turned on me so last minute, I didn’t have any time to simulate her memories! So that’s why she just kinda forgot everything! But I wanted to leave hints here and there for her, in case she could remember some of the awful things she did when she was on the side of despair!”

He clicks the button once again, and the screen displays the logo we saw in my talent room before it retracts back into the ceiling. “Aaaand that’s about it! Any questions? I don’t care!”

“My memories… are fake?” Ayao stares at Hirai, seemingly unable to believe his words.

Ko lifts their whiteboard. ‘Are you telling me I didn’t kill my bully?’

“Oh, you did a lot more than kill a bully! You just remember it as a single traumatic event since that’s how the simulation decided to interpret it!” Hirai laughs.

“Stop this,” Shōhei says to Hirai.

“Hmm… nope!” He grins at him, lifting a knife.

“Wait- what are you doing with that?” Shōhei stands defensively.

“Oh, I’ve always got a knife on me! But don’t worry, I don’t feel like stabbing you guys right now so I won’t. Besides, I’ve got too many plans for this to just kill you guys now!”

“Plans?” Ayao asks fearfully.

“Yup! I’ve had plans throughout this entire thing! My entire goal for the first murder was to convince Chiyumi that she could easily go home if she just killed someone! Looking at her synthesized memories, it was too easy! Some of the cases surprised me a little, but that just made it more fun! As for the fourth case, I didn’t really have a motive planned, but that storm had some pretty good timing, huh? You guys were right about the waves not being strong enough to tilt the arcade machine over, I kiiinda helped out with that. But Kan was there, so it was basically his fault! And I had to make sure Seiki survived until this final class trial, just to see the moment she remembered everything I made her forget!”

“You killed Mizuki because she found the passage, didn’t you?” I confront Hirai.

“Wow, you really do remember everything! That’s right, she was gonna tell Kan about the trapdoor hidden under the arcade machine in the corner, so I had to do something to keep her quiet!” He laughs maliciously as he explains.

“You… blamed Kan for your own murder?” Ayao looks at him in horror.

“Yup! I mean, I basically blamed Hitomi for killing ‘me’ during the previous case, so it’s not a first! And she was soo desperate to find the truth about my death during that trial…” He giggles at the thought.

“I thought we were friends… Why would you do this?” Shōhei glares at Hirai again.

“Hmm… for fun? I mean I did care about you all, and watching everyone die brought me so much despair…” He smiles creepily as he utters those words.

“I’ve heard enough of this. Hirai, we’re ready to vote.” I stare him dead in the eyes as I speak.

“Aww, but we’re having so much fun! Don’t you all wanna join me in despair? C’mon, we can all do another killing game together… or I could kill you all here, bringing myself more despair… being betrayed and alone, surrounded by the corpses of my friends…”

“D-didn’t you say you were gonna kill us anyways…?” Shōhei trembles in fear.

“He was lying. I know all his plans, he wants to be executed just like Junko. He’s disgusting,” I explain.

“You really want this to end so quickly? What are you gonna do after I’m dead? You’re still stuck on this ship!” Hirai laughs at us.

“Don’t even try. You know I remember everything now, I know how to get us off this ship. I did way more planning than you ever did, anyways. It’s your own fault for jogging my memory and reversing the effects of my amnesia.” I glare at him. “You were always impulsive like that, now that I remember everything. I know who you really are, and how you really want this to end. So let us vote for you as the killer of Sawao and the Mastermind of the killing game.”

“But it brings me so much despair that you’d all betray me like thi-” Hirai starts to whine.

“Start the vote,” Shōhei interrupts.

“Alright, fine. If you insist. I was getting bored anyways!” His attitude shifts completely. “Let’s bring this thing to an end, shall we?” Hirai pulls out a Monokuma plush from behind his back and waves its arms in front of him as he speaks in a Monokuma impression. “Now then, use the lever in front of you to make your selection! Who will be chosen as the blackened?”

Without hesitation, I select Hirai as my vote. I have no doubt the others do as well.

In front of Hirai’s podium, the slot machine appears. The faces spin until all three land on Hirai. I notice the portrait now includes his Monokuma clips and a devilish grin, whereas it used to be his normal expression.

“Ah, ahahahaha! The betrayal, the rejection, the hatred I feel coming from you all… it brings me so much despair…” Hirai’s expression is one of pure bliss. He’s breathing heavily and leaning on the podium in front of him.

“It’s over, Hirai.” I stare him down.

“That’s what you think… Maybe this is the end of my life, but it’s not the end of my story. Seiki, you remember the past five years but there’s no way you could know what I’ve been up to down here this whole time!” He grins at me.

I glare at him. I have nothing to say. I know I’ll find out what he’s talking about after his death and stop his plans.

He stands up straight and lifts the Monokuma in front of himself, speaking in a Monokuma impression once again. “I’ve prepared a very special punishment for Hirai Ichizo, the Ultimate Despair Blogger!”

The four of us stare blankly at him, awaiting whatever punishment he’s prepared for himself.

“Let’s give it everything we’ve got! It’s… PUNISHMENT TIIIME!!”

[TRIGGER WARNING] (skip past the next line if you don’t want any spoilers, but please read if you want to be prepared for any potentially triggering content.)  
 _fire, cutting fingers on tiny blades, noose mention, being clawed and bitten by robotic animals, almost drowning, bomb/explosion_

_HIRAI ICHIZO’S ULTIMATE PUNISHMENT_

_Hirai is thrown into the setting of Chiyumi’s execution, but without chains restricting his movements. He skillfully dodges the electric mixer, moving through the batter. He’s poured into the cupcake tray and sits there, kicking his legs up on the edge of the cup. Once he’s in the oven and the heat begins to increase, flames rise around him as he wipes off as much of the batter he can and stands up on the edge of the tray. He is then pulled out of the oven by thin ropes wrapping around his ankles and shoulders._

_He’s pulled into the scene of Sachiko’s execution, making a few moves against Monokuma in the chess game, paying no mind to the blades slicing his fingers. The noose swings down to capture him and he grabs a hold of it and gets swung into the air. The tight ropes around his ankles and shoulders release as he’s swung into Hitomi’s execution, being placed on a bookshelf._

_He jumps down off the shelf faster than Hitomi did, but with his lack of caution, he injures his leg. He manages to get up and run out of the way of the falling books, through a door off to the side and into the scene of Kan’s execution._

_The Monodogs are already switched to the “OUT FOR BLOOD” setting, climbing on the edge of the large sink. Hirai walks over and sprays them with water before they start chasing him around the room, jumping on him and scratching all over him. Bleeding heavily, he manages to kick them off, and runs back out the door he entered through._

_This time it takes him into Takeshi’s execution. He falls into a tank of water, his killing game plans floating in front of him, while Monokuma tears them to shreds right before his eyes. Water fills his lungs as he begins to drown before the tank shatters, and he falls to the ground in a pile of the remains of his killing game plans._

_Finally, injured and bleeding on the floor, Monokuma jumps down from the edge of the tank. About halfway through the fall, beeping can be heard coming from the bear, and he explodes the moment he makes contact with Hirai, killing him._

_Hirai Ichizo, the Ultimate Despair Blogger and Mastermind, is dead._

It’s… over.

The killing game… is over.


	31. Ending

I stare at the spot where Hirai died for a long moment. The room is silent. I finally glance around at the others. No one’s saying anything…

“Should we leave?” Ayao asks, breaking the silence.

“Yeah…” I take a deep breath and look past the execution zone, fishing the Monokuma key out of my pocket. I step down from my podium and walk through a passage at the side of the execution zone towards the door in the back and unlock it. The others follow me.

Back in the Mastermind’s room, I take a seat at the desk in front of the screen and begin typing on the keyboard as the others crowd around and watch me. I type a command to open up a panel on one of the windows in the general hangout area.

“Now we should be able to get out,” I state.

“So… Do you know where that ladder leads now?” Ayao asks, pointing at the ladder in the corner that I climbed yesterday.

“Yes, it goes to the passage in the corner of the arcade. It’s where Hirai travelled between here and the rest of the ship before faking his death,” I explain. “There’s a special code that you can input into the controls on the machine that moves it out of the way, but I assume Mizuki just pushed it.”

“Is there anything else to do here?” Shōhei asks.

“Not unless anyone wants to look on Hirai’s laptop in his talent room,” I respond. “With my memories, I remember the password now. It’s ‘JunkoEnoshima’. I’m pretty sure it’s just set up with a livestream of the killing game, so it’s up to you guys if you wanna see a smaller version of these screens,” I continue, gesturing to the large screens in front of us that still display the security camera footage.

Ko thoughtfully writes something before showing us the whiteboard. ‘I’d actually like to get something from Hitomi’s talent room.’

“Alright. Let’s head there now.” I lead the group out of the Mastermind’s room, back past the execution zone where Hirai’s body still lies, and onto the elevator. We make our way up to the third deck.

Ko quickly enters Hitomi’s talent room and comes back out holding her laptop. They tuck it under one arm and write another message for us to read. ‘She mentioned wanting to share the stories of the people on the ship, and that she was starting to write about it. Since she can’t publish it, maybe we can.’

“That’s a good idea,” Shōhei comments.

“I agree.” I sigh and take one last look down the hallway of talent rooms. “I think it’s time to get out of here.”

The others nod in agreement and we take the elevator back to the second deck. As I expected, one of the window panels has opened up and we now have access to the outside deck of the ship. The four of us step out and breathe in the fresh air, feeling the sun on our skin.

“It’s really over…” I say, looking out at the horizon.

“Guys, look! There’s land!” Ayao points out that we’ve finally travelled close enough to the shore to see some land in the distance.

“I guess we know which way to start heading,” Shōhei adds.

I pause for a moment, thinking about my experience here and how it all ties into my now regained memories.

“I can’t believe I was ever on his side…” I sigh.

“It’s okay, Seiki! I don’t know who you used to be, but I can tell you’re different now!” Ayao puts a hand on my shoulder. “I trust you, I know you’re all good now! You’re not like Hirai at all!”

“I agree,” Shōhei adds.

‘Me too.’ Ko holds their whiteboard in front of me.

“Thank you,” I say to the four of them.

After a moment, Shōhei speaks again. “You mentioned knowing how to get us off the ship? Was that just opening this window, or…”

“Oh, no, there’s a lifeboat.” Snapped out of the moment and refocused on leaving the ship, I direct the others around the side of the deck to a lifeboat ready to be lowered into the water.

The four of us work together to get into the boat and bring it down to the water. Ko is able to bring Hitomi’s laptop on the lifeboat without it getting wet. Ayao and Shōhei take hold of the oars and begin to paddle us away from the ship.

“We can swap out once we get closer to the land,” Shōhei suggests.

“Good plan,” I confirm.

As we paddle off towards the land, I watch the ship get smaller and smaller as we move away from it. All my memories of this ship, new and old… I’m ready to let them go, to leave them behind. It almost feels like the people who lost their lives on that ship are waving goodbye as we leave.

The killing game is over, and I survived with my friends Ko, Shōhei, and Ayao. We’ll never forget the lives of the ones we lost on that ship… but we must continue, for their sake.


End file.
